


America 
Across the Seas 

Our Colonial Empire 



Described by 

HAMILTON WRIGHT • C. H. FORBES-LINDSAY 
JOHN F. WALLACE ■ WILLARD FRENCH 

WALLACE W. ATWOOD and ELIZABETH FAIRBANKS 



Illustrated 




NEW YORK 

C. S. HAMMOND & COMPANY 

1909 



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LX'^ 



Copyright, 1907, The World To Day Company 
Copyright, igoS, The World To-Day Company 
Copyright, igog, C. S. Hammond & Co.,N. Y 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
1 wo Cocies Received 

APR 24 1909 



Copynant 



itry. 



CLASS ft_ \Xc, NO, 

^ 5 \ 5 o\ 

COPY 8. 



Contents 



The Philippines 

J -L PAGE 

By Hamilton Wright, Editor of the "Overland 
Monthly" and Author of "A Handbook of the 
Philippines," etc. ------ 5 

Hawaii 

By \\ iLLARD French - - - - - 37 

GuaJH a?td Our Smaller Isla?tds i?i the 
Pacific 
By Elizabeth Fairbanks - - - - 48 

Alaska 

By Wallace W\ Atwood, Assistant Professor of 
Geology, Universit^' of Chicago - - - 59 

Panama a?id the Canal Zone 

By John F. Wallace, formerly Chief Engineer 

of the Panama Canal - - - - -72 

Porto Rico 

B\- C. H. Forbes-Lindsay, Author of "America's 
Insular Possessions," "India Past and Present," 
etc. -------- 83 

Cuba 

By C. H. Forbes-Lindsay - - - - 95 
















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MAP OF 

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Line of Can 1 



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il a Iroad, proposed location 



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for Atlai t c entrance and morel 
trora Git n to Pacific terminal, 
^-A tilt-s or mean lake levels, 



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Hammond's Smaller Map of Panama Canal. \^ 
opjright, IVOit, by C.S.Hammond & Co., New York. 



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BATAN AND ^'"'''' 
BABCTAN 
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luge map BATAN ISl ANDS 

Balingt 






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VIII 



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philippine 
isla:nds 

Scale of Jllle 



20 40 00 80 100 

Important towns are shown 
In heauy face type 






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A S attractive, p e r- 
/\ haps, as any other 
_J^\ land under the 
Stars and Stripes 
are the vast unknown 
Philippines — the Philip- 
pines outside the cities, 
which present a phase of 
the archipelago that 
Americans in the islands 
are just beginning to ap- 
preciate but with which 
the people of the United 
States are almost as un- 
familiar as they are with 
the black heart of Africa. 
The difference between 
the Europeanized and 
Americanized Philippines 
and the unknown Philippines is simply 
tremendous. It is a political, sociological, 
industrial, economical, and, in some meas- 
ure, an ethnological difference. And, we 
may say, the difference is topographic 
and climatic, so great is the gulf between 
the real natural features of the archi- 
pelago and the current descriptive fic- 
tion Mdiich passes as reality; yet it is 
easy to arrive at the reasons for our 
faulty knowledge, for those general ideas 
which were not gathered during the haze 
of the insurrection have been gained from 



descriptions of Manila 
and other of the larger 
centers, and the immedi- 
ate country about them. 
A stranger may obtain a 
far better idea of the 
United States and the 
vastness of its resources 
by visiting in New York 
alone, than he would gain 
of the Philippines who 
spends six or eight weeks 
in Manila, Hilo, and 
Cebu. 

Picture, if you will, the 
huge Philippines, seven 
v(55^) thousand square miles 
larger than the British 
isles, though with but 
one-fifth of England's population. An 
insignificant proportion of their eight 
million Malay peoples dwell in great cit- 
ies ; ti^e rest live in scattered hamlets and 
communities along the seacoasts and in 
the great interior valleys and plains. 
There is but one notable exception to this 
distribution of the people, that of the 
hardy Igorrotes, those most prodigious 
workers and scientific irrigators, who to a 
number probably exceeding three hun- 
dred thousand, make their homes in the 
almost inaccessible mountain heights of 



6 



THE PHILIPPINES 



interior Luzon. And a minor exception is 
found in the case of a few wild fugitive 
tribes, lilce the Negritos and Tirurays, 
who dwell for the most part in the deep 
forests of the coast ranges. Because 
these millions live a comnumal life and 
seldom leave the locality in which they 
are born, they are unknown even to the 
leaders of their own people. 

The archipelago is an empire of un- 
dreamed-of possibilities. Possibly no coun- 
try in the world may excel its unique 
and lasting charms. Were it known it 
would become a paradise for the sight- 
seer and tourist. Yet one who has not 
left the well-traveled routes will with dif- 
ficulty appreciate its marvelous diversity 



in happiness and comfort. It is nonsense 
to say corporations will exploit the Fili- 
pinos. In the first place the corporations 
can not hold enough land, and in the 
second place the people will not work 
efficiently if abused. 

These great unknown islands spell 
neglected opportunity; millions and mil- 
lions of acres have never known even the 
wild man's crude plow. One may, in re- 
gions, travel for days, even weeks, with- 
out seeing a native. He will pass through 
realms of extreme fertility and beauty, 
through vast upland meadows of rich pas- 
ture grass, growing knee-high and con- 
cealing a soil rich and black as that of 
Egypt; across quiet savannahs where 




A TYPICAL FARM IN THE PHILIPPINES 



and almost limitless opportunities. I 
think it was fortunate for the Filipino 
people that the Americans came. For 
there is no w^ay in which the native in- 
habitants will develop faster. Th^y are 
imitative and adaptable to a degree, and 
they progress faster when in contact with 
the white settler than when left to their 
own devices. The grasp with which the 
Filipino people are laying hold of a to- 
tally new scheme of life is the astonish- 
ment of the European nations which have 
colonized the Orient. 

There is room in the Philippines for 
ten times the present population to dwell 



strange trees dot the landscape as do the 
mountain oaks of the California Sierras. 
But for the lack of sleek cattle, one might 
here fancy himself in a deserted orchard 
pasture in New England. Streams, clear, 
cold and crystal, spring from the moun- 
tain heights and bubble through the 
mountain meadows. Broad prairies which 
might pasture thousands, or better, mil- 
lions, of head of cattle, or which might 
grow sugar-cane, cotton, tobacco or corn, 
are deserted. 

In the lowlands, jungles of wild ban- 
anas wave in the wind, their fruit un- 
eropped; in the uplands thousands of 




copyright by Underwood & Underwood 

LOOKING FROM CORREGIDOR ISLAND TO CABELLO ISLAND 
Rice fields in foreground 
8 




Copyright by Underwood & Underwood 

IN THE BOTANICAL GARDENS, MANILA 




I'LUWING A IU( E FIELD 

10 















SANTA CRUZ, :\rARINDUQUE 



acres of wild hemp are never stripped; 
on the nionntain-tops the Igorrotes grow 
as fine long-staple cotton as any in the 
world, but crudely. For each cotton- 
plant stands alone on the summit of a 
hummock which is six or eight feet from 
the next hummock, and surrounded by 
the water of a rice paddy. The cotton 
grows well enough, and an immense quan- 
tity could be grown on the idle areas, but 
the Igorrotes are skilled only in the rais- 
ing of rice. Wild peanuts, wnld camotes 
(sweet potatoes), wild oranges of many 
kinds and some of a delicious flavor, wild 
limes, Avild rubber and gutta-percha. 



thousands of products of the tropical, 
semi-tropical, and, in the higher altitudes, 
of the temperate zone, are neglected. 

The valuable hardwoods that pass their 
usefulness without being lumbered and 
on to decay are almost everywhere. In 
the mountains one sees them in a pano- 
rama to delight the eye. Dense forests 
of hardwood creep blackly down the steep 
hogbacks and thrust themselves into the 
grassy meadows as a promontory reaches 
out into the ocean. Deer and wild boar 
are innumerable. In some regions you 
will find jungle fowl and in the heart of 
Luzon I have seen many wild carabaos 



12 



THE PHILIPPINES 




tobacco, and a long-worded and usually 
difficult attempt to explain routes and 
distances. While, if one comes at night 
to a solitary dwelling, the woman of the 
house cheerfully sacrifices her last chicken 
to set up a feast for the stranger. One 
could, if necessary, travel from north to 
south in the islands subsisting entirely 
upon the bounty of the native people, 
whether the civilized natives or the pagan 
wild tribes. I have never heard of an in- 
stance in which the natives have refused 
to extend hospitality where on any pre- 
text it could be offered. 

All in all, I venture that you will not 
find anywhere a country which is, by and 



A FARMER'S WIFE 
With her large cigar 

or water buffaloes, and a few 
wild horses. Game and fruit 
for the taking, cool nights — 
sometimes very cold — and 
brilliant, comfortable days, 
and a region as magically 
alluring as ever beckoned to 
the pioneers of the Great 
Plains. Who knows the Phil- 
ippines who has lived only in 
the cities there? 

The mountains have a 
charm all their own and are 
much less known than the 
lower altitudes. Sometimes, 
above one thousand five hun- 
dred feet, their vast flanks 
are dotted with innumerable groves of 
great pines. Again on their mist-clad 
summits the trails will lead through dense 
forests where enormous vines coil like 
huge pythons about the giant trees, and 
creepers and parasites and flowering or- 
chids innumerable make a fantastic para- 
dise of the woods. And if on the trail one 
meets a native, or a party of fifty, they 
pass the time of day with such gifts 
as may be handy, perhaps an offer of 




A SCHOOL TEACHER AND HIS PUPILS 

He is protesting against their habit of smoking 

large, more hospitable, more cheerful to 
the eye, of greater promise, and more 
healthf\il than the Philippines. After 
traveling 651 miles on horseback and 
afoot, the writer came one day upon some 
scales and found that he had increased 
in weight by ten pounds. After five 
months more of travel, he found himself 
eighteen pounds to the good. But the man 
Avho stays always in Manila, for instance, 
who never plays tennis, or golfs, or rows, 



THE PJIILIPPI^'ES 



13 



who drinks more of alcoliolic liquors than 
is healthful — he should really drink noth- 
ing in the tropics — and who spends 
laborious days trying to keep cool, will 
never think well of the Philippines or of 
the Filipinos. Not every one can live in 
the islands, but nearly every one can if 
he looks out for his liver. 

There are to-day in the unknown Phil- 
ippines, in the remote provinces, and far 
from the cities, many young Americans 
who are starting np plantations and who 
swear by the country. It is of these ]iio- 
neers that you will learn something new 
about the Philippines. I know many who 
have been in the islands six or eight years 
and have not had a sick day. I have 
myself, in the past few months, directed 
more than a dozen young men to the 
islands, though I had no personal object 
in so doing, and those who have written 
me say that they like the life greatly. 
Down at Davao on the huge island of 
Mindanao, there are about forty Ameri- 
cans, mostly former soldiers who have 
served their enlistments and are now 
owning and managing their own planta- 
tions. Those men of our early West who 
divided their time between shooting the 
skulking Indians and cultivating their 
crops were not greater pioneers than the 
soldier boys in the Philippines who have 
turned farmers. But the white man has 
not proved a menace to his Malay broth- 
ers. The population of the Philippines 
has increased twelvefold since the Span- 
iards came. While, on the other hand, 
the American Indians either perished in 
resisting civilization or in succumbing to 
it, the ]\Ialay profits by contact with civ- 
ilization. 

One of the pioneers of the Davao dis- 
trict settled in a remote region many 
leagues from a white neighbor. He won 
the confidence of the Bogobos, as the wild 
people there are called. They came in 
and settled on his ground, they helped 
him clear it, they learned the use of mod- 
ern farm implements and, to-day, he can 
put a hundred men at work in his hemp 
hills at any time. Another pioneer who 
went into planting at Davao, in 1900, 
with little capital other than courage, 
health, and steadfastness, is now $25,000 
ahead of the game, besides owning his 
own plantation. To tell the truth, the 
hackneyed stories of disaster that first 



cropped np from the Philippines and 
still persist in coming out, are relics of a 
by-gone age, the prehistoric era of 1898- 
1903. 

There is optimism in the Philippines. 
My friend, Mr. M. A. Clarke, president 
of the INIanila IMerchants' Association, 




SHEEP IN THE CAYUGAN VALLEY 

Spli'iidid sheep are raised in the Philippines, as well as 
Angora goats 

writes that the association has a fund of 
$50,000 gold to "boom" the islands in 
the good western way, with the specific 
object of attracting tourists and capital 
to the Philippines, and of advertising 
Philippine products, such as the valuable 
woods and rare cloths and hats of native 
fibers. The Insular Government has ap- 
propriated $12,500 gold to the associa- 
tion to print pamphlets. Every business 
man, Filipino, American, Spanish, Eng- 
lish, German, in the islands wants to en- 
courage foreign capital. A few, very 
few, years ago the statement that there 
was anything good in the Philippines 
would have been hailed with derision. 
Even to-day one of the attractive fea- 
tures of Philippine life, the weather, is 
presented as a prodigious bugaboo to life 
there. 

The climate of the Philippines has 
been much maligned. It is probably 
more generally misunderstood than any 
other feature of the islands, and this mis- 
understanding has been a serious com- 
mercial drawback. One should travel to 
learn what the climate really is, and how 
many variations of it there are. Really 
the climate presents so many gradations, 
from tropical to almost temperate, that 
no general statement can be made which 



14 



THE PHILIPPINES 



will not be (subject to innumerable well- 
gronnded objections. As a whole, the 
climate is not entirely determined by alti- 
tude ; for, in some regions, at sea-level 
where the trade-winds are not arrested by 
the mountains, you will find a climate 
pleasant, uniform, and with steady but 
gentle showers every few days the year 
around. This climate is typical of Min- 
danao Island and Southern Luzon. And, 



Brooklyn elevated at Park Row for 
Coney Island. All in all, the climate of 
the Philippines is an asset. 

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 
1906, the death rate among American 
civilians living in the Philippines was 
only 9.34 per thousand, while the death 
rate among American soldiers was but 
8.65. In the United States the death rate 
for the last census was about seventeen 




on the other hand, you will in some sec- 
tions, as at Manila, for instance, find a 
round of seasons where the climate for a 
given month can be predicted with cer- 
tainty. 

Manila is balmy for three months of 
the year and pleasant for six, the period 
from the middle of September till early 
in March. The latter part of March, and 
April, May and June are the hottest 
months, but by June the showers have 
come. The highest recorded temperature 
of the city for twenty-two years was 
100.04 Fahrenheit, which was reached on 
May 23, 1889. Altogether the hot season 
of Manila is perhaps as endurable as that 
of New York or Chicago in midsummer. 
Now that the railroad is built from 
Manila up to Anipolo, 625 feet above sea- 
level, and a special train to Dagupan 
runs in connection with the stage to 
Bagnio, one can as readily get away from 
the heat of the city as he can take the 



HE IGORROTES 

for two hundred jears or more 

per thousand, but of course the American 
inhabitants of the islands are mostl}^ 
adults who have passed the period of in- 
fant mortality. 

The difi^erence between the Philippines, 
as seen in Manila and other centers ol 
population, and the less-known regions of 
the islands is sociological, industrial and 
economic, because in the interior the civ- 
ilization of the Philippine Malays has 
probably changed but little since the Span- 
ish came three hundred and fifty years 
ago. The houses are, in the main, the 
rather primitive thatches typical of 
Malayasia; the industries are limited to 
the piecemeal performance of many 
tasks, and all the manufactures, as the 
making of hats, cloths, mats, knives, bolos, 
and utensils, are household manufac- 
tures. Transportation is crude and dif- 
ficult and agriculture is accordingly lim- 
ited. The native farmer can not get his 
products to market if he raises them ; 




A RIVER SIDE TILLAGE 

15 



16 



THE nilLIPPINES 



there is no stimulus for him to produce 
beyond his immediate needs. 

Social intercourse is correspondingly 
restricted. The native knows the circle 
of friends of his village. He loves the 
Philippines, and is patriotic because he 
loves the ground itself and the familiar 
landscapes which he has known from 
childhood; because he loves his home, 
wife, children and parents, but he has not 
the remotest conception of the islands as 
a whole, and such a condition as a unified 
government would be totally incompre- 
hensible to him. And yet, frequently, in 
the most remote localities, one will meet 
natives of great intelligence and consid- 
erable information ; for the Spanish 
padres penetrated the islands and taught 
the people all they knew. But the build- 
ing of the railroads, the improvement of 
steamship facilities, and the development 
of the public-school system will in a gen- 
eration open up the life of the Filipino 
people, and the progress of the islands 
will assuredly be as marked as that of 
Japan, though perhaps along other lines. 

One great influence renders the people 
of the Philippines peculiarly susceptible 



to American teachings. It is Christian- 
ity. In every settlement there is a 
church. Seven-eighths of the people are 
Christians and devoted to the Catholic 
faith. They are therefore generally 
classed as civilized, though apart from 
those who have been in close association 
with foreign influence, their civilization is 
in no way an industrial civilization as we 
know it in the United States. The change 
from the time of Legoaspi, who first en- 
tered ]\Tanila, has not been in the manner 
of living, but rather in a gradual relaxa- 
tion of the cruel, tribal, patriarchal sys- 
tem then practiced. When the Spaniards 
came, the Filipino people had a civiliza- 
tion as peculiarly their own as is that of 
the Chinese, for they were able to read 
and write in a fashion in their dialects, 
and, what is most wonderful, they even 
staged plays. Most of the plays were in 
Tagalog dialect. 

Nor are the people civilized in the 
sense of being able to comprehend the art 
of self-government or to understand in a 
political way the individual rights of 
man, but they are civilized in a moral 
sense. And because they are Christian 





MORO DATTO OF MINDANAO AND HIS RETINUE 

iay this datto, or feudal chieftain, has a homely face but a good heart 



and morally civilized we must account 
the work of the Spanish through the 
Catholic missionaries as perhaps the 
greatest peaceful conquest in the world's 
history. The work shows in the daily life 
of the people. The Filipino woman is the 
only woman in all the Orient who is not 
held in subjection to man ; and, either 
from a statistical or any other basis, the 
more than seven million Christian Fili- 
pinos will compare very favorably with 
their white cousins of the United States. 
Rape, prostitution, murder, burglary and 
violent crimes are even proportionately 
less in the Philippines than in the United 



States. Petty pilfering and deceit are, no 
doubt, more frequent, for the people are 
but children. Yet they are peculiarly 
susceptible to the noblest ideals of the 
white race. 

The Christian people of the Philippines 
embrace eight civilized tribes, each of 
which speaks a different dialect. "Wlien 
Americans first came to the islands they 
thought of all these peoples as alike. But 
now they know the Visayans, living 
mostly in the islands of Negros, Cebu, 
and Panay, to the number of three and a 
quarter millions, as a gentle, peaceable 
lot. The Visayans took little part in the 



17 



18 



THE PHILIPPINES 



insurrection. They know the Ilocanos, 
eight hundred thousand in number, as the 
Yankees of the Philippines. 

A race of prodigious workers are these 
Ilocanos; from dawn to dark they are in 
the fields with scarcely a respite at noon; 
and we know of a native Ilocano planter 



orations they have lived in and near 
]\Ianila, in closer contact with the white 
race than any other. They are not nearly 
as strong physically as the Visayans, Ilo- 
canos, Bicolos or some others. But there 
are all sorts and conditions of Filipino 
people. It would be as difficult to de- 







RAFTING FRUIT IN SOUTHERN LUZON 



who attached an acetylene gas-lamp to a 
motor plow and worked his men in three 
eight-hour shifts through the twenty-four 
hours. The Ilocanos live on the north- 
west coast of Luzon, where the plains that 
extend between the Cordilleras and the 
sea for 150 miles north and south, and 
perhaps from ten to thirty east and west, 
hold but a shallow soil. Their country, 
the least fertile in the Philippines, has 
rendered them industrious; their num- 
bers have increased and they are gradu- 
ally migrating to all portions of the 
islands, where they are much sought for 
their industry. 

The Tagalogs, who number almost a 
million and one-half, are the most men- 
tally alert race in the islands. For gen- 



scribe them as it would be to describe the 
people of the United States. 

Outside of the larger cities, where 
American methods are rapidly creating 
an independent industrial type, all of the 
Filipinos may be divided into two social 
classes: the ruling or the landlord class 
(getite ilustrisimo), the subordinate class 
(genie haja). In a village of, say, ten 
thousand population, you may find 
twenty ruling families, all probably 
closely related and intermarried, who 
dominate to a large extent the entire 
population. These families live in the 
fashion of the wealthy Spanish; they 
have pianos in their homes and maga- 
zines, and are polished and agreeable 
companions. In a community of ten 



THE PHILIPPINES 



19 



thousand, too, you may find to a very 
small degree, a fairly independent class 
of artisans and workers. 

But when you come to settlements of 
one to two thousand or perhaps more, the 
gulf is wider still; there is no middle 
class, there are very few rich, and mil- 



as the people generally would be bene- 
fited. 

Though the wealthy classes as a whole 
impose heavily on the poor, yet the con- 
dition of the latter is by no means sad or 
deplorable ; rule in the Philippines is of 
class and not caste. Education and mate- 




IGORROTE BOYS PULLING A FERRY ACROSS THE EBELAN RIVER 



lions and millions of poor, and the rich 
absolutely rule and control the poor. 
Those who judge the Filipino people by 
the educated Filipinos they meet fail, of 
course, to strike any average of the peo- 
ple. For the people of the Philippines as 
a whole are the uneducated, unambitious, 
passive, obedient, contented and cheerful 
poor. They are not longing for indepen- 
dence, for they have no idea of what in- 
dependence is; all they want is to be 
happy with their families and their 
amusements, to have enough to eat and 
enough to wear. These are the people of 
the unknown Philippines, hospitable and 
happy fatalists, looking for nothing more 
than what nature herself will provide. I 
am not against independence at such time 



rial wealth alone determine the position 
of the upper classes ; the son of the poor- 
est peasant may, by his own efforts, rise 
to the most influential of stations. I have 
met former Governor Piemontel of Ambos 
Camarines Province. His parents were 
hum])le taos who knew no speech but the 
primitive Bicol dialect. Governor Pie- 
montel started as a boy to work in the 
hemp fields; he saved enough to begin a 
little hemp patch of his own, and for 
seven years he toiled without leaving his 
plot. To-day he is, through his own ef- 
forts, a man of great wealth and of edu- 
cation. He has traveled over Europe and 
the United States, and his sons have been 
highly educated on the continent. 

The hope for these poorer Filipinos is 



20 



THE PHILIPPINES 



their education, education especially in 
modern methods of transportation and 
manufactures, through association with 
the more advanced races. The American 
public-school system with its almost half 
a million native pupils, is performing a 
tremendous work in the upbuilding of the 
islands. The system is at present so ar- 
ranged that every child of school age in 
the islands may spend three years in a 
public school. The schools are over- 



crowded. Young Filipino children are 
as bright as American children of the 
same age, or as Japanese children. There 
is in the character of the Filipino people 
nothing to prevent them from advancing 
as rapidly as the Japanese have done; 
but foreigners are only beginning to ap- 
preciate this. 

A traveler through the Philippines 
would have to speak in sixty-seven dia- 
lects to talk to all the tribes in their 




THE CATHEDRAL AT TUGUEGARAO, IN THE CAYUGAN VALLEY 

This is one of the finest of the old-type churches 




A LITTLE MORO GIRL DIVER AT JOLO 



own lang:iiage ; some of the uncivilized 
pagan tribes are almost unknown. The 
northeast coast of Luzon and the heart of 
Mindanao have never been thoroughly 
penetrated by the white man. The re- 
gions are some of the richest in the world, 
and if inhabited at all, are only the homes 
of nomadic tribes. The pagan tribes or 
savages number about six hundred thou- 
sand, and, with the exception of the Igor- 
rotes, are generally most primitive. 

The Igorrotes, who can neither read 
nor write, who have no signs nor symbols, 
such as even the cave-dwellers scratched 



upon the rocks, have yet developed some 
of the most amazing irrigation works in 
the world. They terrace mountain caii- 
ons to a height of three thousand feet and 
grow rice on the summit of each flooded 
terrace. They often mix the water used 
for irrigation with an enriching sediment 
and thus irrigate and fertilize with one 
operation a step ahead of fertilizing in 
this country. The number of Igorrotes is 
probably over three hundred thousand. 
They are a jolly, peaceable and very hos- 
pitable people, though the tribes engage 
in bitter feuds that are carried from 



21 



22 



THE PHILIPPINES 




THE CATHEDRAL AT LUEBAN, LUZON 

father to son. Head-himting, common to 
all the uncivilized Malays, is occasionally 
still practiced in the most inaccessible 



hammed, are taking readily to public 
market places where they sell jungle 
produce for cash. The industrial conver- 
sion of the Moros is remarkable, for no 
belief affords greater resistance to the 
inculcating of the white man's civiliza- 
tion than does the belief of the followers 
of the prophet. 

There is no reason to regret our acci- 
dental occupation of the Philippines ; the 
islands are self-supporting, and they have 
been for four years. Outside the army 
appropriations, we have not sent them a 
cent since the passing of the Agricultural 
Relief Bill. The real imports and exports 
are larger than ever before. Tlie vast re- 
sources and rich promise of the Philip- 
pines make them an attractive field for 
progressive young Americans with moder- 
ate capital. 

And over and above all, the Philippines 
need capital. If ten thonsano young 
white men with ten thousand dollars each 
would settle in the islands and engage in 
agriculture there, all the problems would 
be forever settled. The problems of the 
archipelago are not social or political, but 
economic. The development of its agri- 
culture, of the coal mines and forests, is 




MOUNTAIN TERRACES IRRIGATED BY THE IGORROTES 



Igorrote communities. The Igorrotes 
are fine workers, and some of the best 
trails in the islands are to be found among 
the mountains in the heart of Luzon. 

All the wild tribes are amenable to 
civilization. Even the Moros, who are 
Philippine Malays, who believe in Mo- 



the great question before the archipelago 
to-day. All it needs is capital and direc- 
tion ; the resources and labor are there in 
abundance, and the invitation presented 
to-day is like that of the once unsettled 
West, when cheap and fertile land 
thronged it with homeseekers. 




Copyrighted by H. C. \\ lute Co. 



DHYING TUB HEMP FIBRE. 



IT is, perhaps, a most emphatic com- 
mentary upon the clouded vision of 
many who in the hast few years have 
scoffed at the Philippines and our pos- 
session of them, that, during the past year 
and more, the islands have experienced an 
era of almost unparalleled prosperity. 
The imports jumped from $27,000,000 for 
the fiscal year of 1906 to $33,000,000 for 



that of 1907, despite the fact that the 
enormous quantities of rice formerly im- 
ported, some years to the extent of 
$12,000,000, are now raised in the islands. 
It is less than ten years since Admiral 
Dewey steamed into Manila Bay ; it is less 
than half a decade since absolute peace 
conditions were established throughout 
the Philippines, and yet in that short 



23 



24 



THE PHILIPPINES 



period we have done more toward the 
establishment of a permanent and lasting 
prosperity and the consequent happiness 
of all the people than England has done 
in any twenty years of her imperialistic 
occupation of India, or that the Dutch 
have accomplished during all the genera- 
tions they have been in Java. The fact 
that our general plan of procedure in the 
Philippines has been pronounced untried, 
visionary, or impossible, is no evidence 
that it is impracticable. The only thing 
for us to consider is, how the general pol- 
icy is working out. In the face of what 
has been and is being accomplished we 
may dismiss all arguments against the 
Philippines as unworthy of consideration. 
It is but natural that the cities, the 



tongue, which enables them to speak a 
common language with those of their own 
blood who talk a different dialect, in what- 
ever part of the islands they may find 
themselves. Over and above all, the chil- 
dren of the Filipino tao, or peasant, are 
learning better ideas of living and are 
sitting side by side with the children of 
the iliistrisimos, the ruling classes, to 
whom for centuries their forebears have 
bowed their heads in slavish obeisance. 

Undoubtedly the most important work 
ever undertaken in the Philippines is the 
building of the railroads. The expe- 
riences of the men in charge of the con- 
struction work of these railroads, and of 
the Americans engaged in other enter- 
prises, cast light upon both the nature of 




^ATIVES LOADING RAILS ON TRACK-LA S-^ING CARb ON THE TEMPORARY WHARF IN CEBU 

Filipino labor in construction work has given satisfaction to American employers 



old established centers of European civili- 
zation in the Philippines, should be the 
first to respond to improved conditions. 
But even the remote country districts 
are becoming more prosperous, because 
the people are back on their farms, and 
the farmer is at liberty to work in the 
fields for himself and he may no longer 
be imprisoned or held in subjection to 
another for debt. His carahao or work 
oxen, which perished in the cattle plague 
following the war, are gradually being re- 
placed, and his children are attending the 
American schools, learning the English 



the people, the possibilities and probable 
destiny of the islands. While new prob- 
lems are constantly presented in the 
building up of this new yet old country, 
still the apparently great obstacles, once 
regarded as insurmountable, prove to be 
but theories and shadows after all. 

It has been often said that it is a great 
mistake to try to impose our form of gov- 
ernment or our methods of work, which 
are the result of a thousand years of 
Anglo-Saxon development, upon a people 
thought to be congenitally rooted to a sort 
of feudal system. The assumption that 




Copyright. 1907, by H. O. White Co, 

TEN THOUSAND ACRES OF COCOANUT PALMS IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



we are doing so is a wrong one. Yet, with 
the probable exception of the Japanese, 
the Filipinos are perhaps the most adap- 
table and initiative people in the world, 
and when they have had as long a time 
as the Japanese have had in which to lay 
hold of our industrial scheme of life, we 
shall probably find in them as apt pupils 
as the Japanese. The ways to work and 
the methods of government we are teach- 
ing the Filipino people will undoubtedly 
be appropriated by them, though modified 
to meet their special needs and conditions. 
To these conclusions one is impelled by 
the success of the public-school system, 
the building of the railroads and other 



industrial or governmental enterprises. 
About seven hundred miles of new rail- 
road lines are being built in the Philip- 
pines. This, with the reconstruction and 
improvement of existing roads, will give 
the islands close to one thousand miles of 
railway. The first step toward the con- 
struction of these lines involved, of course, 
a personal inspection of the country to be 
traversed; and the second, that of map- 
ping out the labor policy, called for a 
knowledge of the people. 

There was a strong feeling among 
Americans in the Philippines that Chi- 
nese labor was the salvation of the railway 
projects, and it was proposed to let down 




FILIPINOS DIGGING ONE OF THE CUTS FOR THE NEW RAILROAD IN CEBU 



the bars temporarily and admit Chines3 
coolies under deportation bond. When 
Mr. Edward J. Beard, Chief Engineer of 
Construction, and Mr. William B. Poland, 
Chief Operating Official of the Philip- 
pine Railway Company, decided in favor 
of Filipino labor, much doubt was ex- 
pressed as to the wisdom of their de- 
cision. It was the biggest problem that 



any except a governmental concern had 
ever faced in the Philippines. But the 
gentlemen had kept close tab on the con- 
struction work of the Manila street rail- 
way, where fifty miles of modern track 
were laid by Filipino labor at an effi- 
ciency of eighty per cent of unskilled 
American labor, but at less cost for the 
amount of work done. They had noted 




NEGOTIATING WITH DATTO MA8TURA FOR THE MAKING OF RAILROAD TIES BY HIS TRIBE 

2G 



THE PHILIPPINES 



27 



the work of the Filipino laborers at the 
quarries at INIariveles, and upon various 
harbor works, and knew as everybody in 
Manila knows, that in work requiring a 
high degree of resourcefulness, Filipinos 
can be found for positions of responsibil- 
ity such as foremen. Indeed Filipino 
motormen and conductors on the IVIanila 
street railways operate the cars with far 



Beard recently stated that his men were 
doing work not only better than could 
ever be achieved by white laborers in the 
tropics, but comparing favorably with the 
average of workmen in temperate climes. 
Apace with the railroad work is the 
development in other industries, and the 
man from any particular section will tell 
you that his region is the most up-and- 




LAYING CONCRETE FOUNDATIONS FOR A PERMANENT STOREHOUSE IN CEBU 



less disaster to the public than do motor- 
m.en in San Francisco, and perhaps in 
other of the large American cities. Yet 
the native motormen in an Oriental city 
have to contend with vehicles and pedes- 
trians that dodge in front of the cars in a 
most reckless manner, seemingly courting 
death with unconcern. 

To employ Filipino men at nine hours 
of the hardest kind of work each day, con- 
structing a road-bed and laying ties, 
would possibly seem something like an at- 
tempt "to hustle the Aryan brown," 
which Mr. Kipling has asserted to be im- 
possible. Nevertheless, when the rail- 
roads are completed, an army of twenty 
thousand men will have been thoroughly 
trained in the principles of modern in- 
dustry. Furthermore, Chief Engineer 



coming. There is Tarlac Province, for 
instance, the "Kansas of the Philip- 
pines " ; " Cagayan Province, " " the Ken- 
tucky"; and Ilocan Province, where live 
the "Yankees" of the islands. A large 
amount of machinery has been sent to 
Tarlac, and a single firm in the Cagayan 
imported three carloads of farm imple- 
ments. 

The sociological and industrial prob- 
lems in the Philippines are synonymous. 
Any propaganda, to be of lasting benefit, 
must sound the note of militant indus- 
trialism ; and with more and ittore of the 
population busy and at work, all the so- 
called problems are passing away. The 
railroad building alone will teach a vast 
number of native men to be useful and 
productive citizens in the new, American, 



28 



THE FtllLIPriNES 



prosperous life in the islands. But there 
are dozens of other collateral and inde- 
pendent industries which are also raising 
the standard of living. And the Filipino 
will not abandon what he learns from the 
American any more than he will forget 
the Spanish and Chinese traditions which 
he has assimilated. 

One of the seeming obstacles to the 
present railroad building was that the av- 
erage laborer lacked physical strength. 
This was largely due to the fact that the 
laborers were often obliged to leave their 
homes, and suffered from want of regular 



and proper food. Many of them, when paid 
entirely in cash, systematically starved 
themselves in order to send more money 
home. Accordingly, the surgeons of the 
Philippine railway settled upon sixty per 
cent rice, eighteen per cent beef, ten per 
cent fish, seven per cent onions, and five 
per cent vinegar, salt, lard, etc., as the 
most nourishing composition for the 
natives doing severe physical labor. The 
men receive as much food as they can eat, 
and it is undoubtedly much more sus- 
taining than anything to which the major- 
ity of them have been accustomed. A 




From Stereograph, Copyright, 1907, by Uaderwood & Underwood, New York 
A STREET IN MANILA 
Here we find the typical Filipino architecture and the modern electric car 




From Stereos 1 



SHACKS BUILT ON PILES IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF MANILA 
It is this sort of condition that the American administration is remedying 



comparison of the unit costs of the con- 
struction before and after adopting this 
diet showed an increased efficiency 
among the laborers of from fifty to sixty 
per cent for the same money. And, too, 
the same men are to be found constantly 
on the work, month after month, day in 
and day out. 

The railway lines for the Philippines 



consist of two general systems, those on 
the great Island of Luzon and those on 
the Visayan Islands: Negros, Cebu and 
Pan ay, so called because of the Visayan 
dialect there spoken. Five different lines 
have started building. The Luzon roads, 
Avhich are being built by the Speyers, who 
have taken over the Manila & Dagupan 
Railway, will consist of a number of lines 



29 




Copyright. 1907, by H. 0. White Co. 

■f PACKINGTOWN IN EMBRYO 
Filipino pig dealers" wire-pulling " iu the stock market at Pasig 



radiating from Manila, and also of a sys- 
tem something over a hundred miles in 
length in the southern peninsula of Lu- 
zon. Ultimately the latter road will reach 
north to Manila, and some day when all 
the projected links are completed, one 
will be able to ride from north to south 
in Luzon a distance, as the line will run, 
of probably about seven hundred miles. 
The Southern Luzon road will run 
through the finest hemp country in the 
world, embraced in the provinces of Sor- 
sogon, Albay and Ambos-Camarines. 

In a single province not much larger 
than a New England county, there are 



twenty-seven prosperous towns solely sup- 
ported by the hemp industry. The pro- 
duction of Manila hemp, the best fiber in 
the world and found only in the Philip- 
pines, is worth about twenty-five million 
dollars gold a year, most of which is ex- 
ported. I have been all through the hemp 
regions, and would rather have a good 
hemp plantation than an orange ranch in 
California. There is less chance of crop 
failure. 

About three hundred miles of railway 
are being built in the Visayan Islands, 
the length of line being about equally 
divided among each of the three islands. 



30 




From Stereograph. Copyright, 1907, by Underwood & Underwood, New York 

ON BINONDO CANAL LOOKING TOWARD CAVITE 



I Back of the project are the J. G. White 
Company of New York, Cornelius Van- 
derbilt, Heidelback, lekelheimer & Co., 



and others. The first dirt was broken in 
Cebu on November 4, 1906, by Governor- 
General Smith. The work was pushed; a 



31 



32 



THE PHILIPPINES 



construction force of four thousand na- 
tives was organized, and within three 
months ninety thousand cubic yards of 
earth and thirty-five thousand yards of 
rock were being moved at a cost of only 
twelve and a half cents a cubic yard. 
Already short stretches, about forty miles, 
of road are in operation. One hundred 
miles of track will be soon laid. On 



vard combined. In a thousand ways the 
city has been improved, so that to-day, 
while among the most modern cities of the 
Orient, Manila is undoubtedly the most 
attractive. One of the most interesting 
phases of the city has been the develop- 
ment of a large American suburb in which 
the dwellings are modeled partially upon 
American styles, with enough of local 




A MANILA SUBITRB LOOKING IGVv'ARD THE CITY 



Panay a twenty-mile section is about com- 
pleted from Iloilo, the metropolis of the 
Southern Philippines, to Pototan in the 
interior north. 

Cebu is the most densely populated of 
the Philippines, there being three hun- 
dred persons to the square mile, , and 
transportation is badly needed. All the 
Visayas are wonderfully fertile, produc- 
ing coffee, cocoa, hemp and sugar. Vast 
deposits of excellent steaming coal have 
been discovered on Cebu and will be 
reached by a spur of the railroad. Large 
deposits have also been found on Batan, 
Mindanao, and Pollilo Islands. Philip- 
pine coal is an excellent steaming coal, 
comparing favorably with the product of 
Japan or Australia, and it is now being 
used in the inter-island service. Gold has 
been discovered in three widely separated 
regions and on the island of Masbate; 
several gold dredgers costing $110,000 
each are in operation. 

Americans who were in Manila in the 
"days of the Empire" would hardly rec- 
ognize the city at the present time. The 
old moat of stagnant water around the 
walled city has been filled in. Where 
once stood a great swamp, there is now 
the Luneta, a beautiful park and boule- 



architeeture to render them both artistic 
and suited to Philippine conditions. 
Quite recently several reinforced concrete 
structures have been built in conformity 
with the Spanish Renaissance architecture. 

That portion of Manila embraced in 
the old walled city is one of the most per- 
fect examples of a fortified city of the 
seventeenth century. Its walls, battle- 
ments and churches would render a Eu- 
ropean city world-famous. The Augus- 
tinian church, the oldest in the islands, 
stands as it was completed in 1605, with 
its vault of huge stone and its enormous 
walls which for three hundred years have 
withstood the earthquakes. 

One could profitably spend weeks in 
these old cathedrals, with their art treas- 
ures, gold plate, and objects of rare his- 
torical interest. And hardly less profita- 
ble is it to visit the magnificent homes of 
some of the old Spanish and Filipino 
families. But everywhere, whether one 
goes to the palaces of the rich, or the 
tenements — of which there are a very 
few — where live the poor, he will find 
the result of the American system of sani- 
tation. The old rain-barrel which bred 
pestilence-carrying mosquitoes is gone; 
refuse and rubbish are nowhere to be 




Copyright, I'JUT, by H. 0. White Go. 



THE AUTOMATIC STEEL LIFT BRIDGE, IN THE BINONDO CANAL, MANILA 
It marks the striking contrast between the old and the new 



found; drainage has been installed; 
even among the palm-thatched native 
huts of the suburbs you will find a 
cleaner, more wholesome living. In fact, 
INIanila to-day is as healthy as any city 
in the world; the change in the city in 
this respect is as great as that which took 
place in New Orleans and, since the Span- 
ish war, in Havana, Cuba. 

In the morning, from seven until nine 
o'clock, in the hot season, the business 
section of Manila is animated; the 
streets are crowded. From ten until 
eleven the people retreat into their offices ; 
from noon until two or half-past two 



the shops are closed ; and from three 
until five or six the business left over 
from the morning is concluded. In the 
evening, all the world is out for an airing. 
Thousands of carromatocs, or two-wheeled 
gigs, dart about the Luneta with lamps 
flashing like fireflies. The Philippine 
constabulary band, which, after a short 
training, captured the second prize at the 
St. Louis exposition, being only exceeded 
in the estimation of the judges by Sousa's 
band, discourses airs, gay, grave, and 
plaintive, and every one meets and chats 
as if by a common understanding. 

It is socially that the Filipino people 



33 



34 



THE PHILIPPINES 



are met to best advantage by the stranger. 
The native people of the cities have taken 
readily to the charming social manners of 
the Spanish; they will keep up a rapid 
fire of light conversation, and entertain 
with music and nnbonnded hospitality. 
Thesocial life, however, has not come ex- 
clusively from Spanish association; the 
social instinct is innate in the people, 
though the poor peasant classes are not 
gifted in its verbal expression. 

Strangers in the Philippines sometimes 



have never traveled this road in the 
night." 

An hour's stumbling through the night 
and we are back at the river ford again. 
Legaspi approaches and kneels before the 
exasperated Gibbs. 

"I am ready to be killed, senor," he 
says, "for I can not get away from this 
river crossing." 

So we gave Legaspi a big, round dollar 
(peso) and told him to cheer up. 

With plenty of good food and super- 




A LOAD OF HEMP AT CEBU 



regard with impatience the poor native 
who will sit for hours gazing idly into 
space. There is a supreme resignation in 
the poorer classes, to whom everything is 
inevitable. Once, the writer and a friend, 
A. D. Gibbs, of Manila, journeyed by 
night in the far interior toward a distant 
village. Our guide, a native, had been 
loaned us, as one who knew the way, by 
an old Swiss planter, a resident of thirty 
years. Continually we got off the track, 
and tangled up in the woods and bogs; 
we came back to the same hill and crossed 
the same river twice at the same place. 

"Legaspi, I will kill you if you do not 
find the road," said Gibbs. 

"Wait but a little moment, senor, I 



vision a poor native like Legaspi makes 
an excellent and faithful workman. As 
an instance : Last Christmas the superin- 
tendent of one of the Manila sawmills 
w^as obliged to run day and night to meet 
orders. His Filipino operatives all 
M^orked on Christmas Day — and a church 
holiday possesses a special significance to 
the native — but the American foreman 
refused to work. 

All the larger towns and cities in the 
Philippines show the result of American 
initiative. The local native mayors 
(prcsidcntcs) and councilmen are glad to 
adopt the suggestions of the constabulary 
officers, schoolteachers, army men, and 
commercial men with whom they come 



THE PHILIPPINES 



35 



into contact. Street ligntmg, grading," 
pure water, sanitation, improved school 
buildings, and a thousand and one fea- 
tures are being carried out in every siza- 
ble community in the islands. The gov- 
ernors of different provinces are doing 
great work, especially in the building of 
.good roads. There are a number of re- 
gions where the roads are suitable to 
automobiles and, incidentally, there are a 
number of motor cars in the Philippines. 
The Insular Government has subsidized 
eleven different steamship routes, and 
calls are made regularly at sixty different 
ports in the islands. Many of their boats 
are modern steel vessels, equipped in 
first-class shape. 



in new enterprises. Yet the islands afford 
great opportunity for manufacturing. 
About a million dollars' worth a month of 
goods that could be produced in the 
islands are imported. There is a great 
chance to harness mountain streams for 
electrical power; and a small number of 
high-pressure water wheels have already 
been introduced. There is a chance for 
rope factories, cotton factories, furni- 
ture factories, modern sawmilling plants, 
sugar factories. Most of the industries of 
the islands, at the present time, are house- 
hold manufactures, and produce yarns 
and threads, hats, caps, lace, embroideries, 
mats, etc., in considerable quantities. 
There is an opportunity to make chil- 




A CARABOA.S CART IN SOUTHERN LUZON 



Perhaps the greatest benefit from the 
incoming American is the fact that he 
stimulates the native people to do things 
in our modern way and shows them how 
to do it. One firm sold almost half a mil- 
lion dollars' worth of farming machinery 
to native planters last year. The Filipino 
will not learn by precept ; he must see the 
work done in order to do it himself. 

The islands need initiative. Filipino 
capital is timid and hesitates to engage 



dren's toys, glass and earthenware prod- 
ucts, papers and soaps. Already the 
Philippines are beginning to produce 
farming implements. 

All in all, our possession of the Philip- 
pines will not only prove of great perma- 
nent benefit to the people of the islands, 
as it has already proved an almost imme- 
diate benefit to them, but the Philippines 
have done much for this country in 
bringing us out into the world. 




HAWAII 

OUR FORGOTTEN KEY TO THE 
PACIFIC OCEAN 

HV 

WILLAKI) FKENCH 



BEAUTIFUL Hawaii! What pages 
of picturesque prose-poetry the 
gem of the AVestern Ocean has 
inspired! What love at first 
sight — and lasting love — thrills the 
heart of the suitor, whether for a day or 
a year or a lifetime he kneels in the Para- 



dise of the Pacific ! For how many years 
— more than threescore of them — have 
envious eyes, far-seeing eyes, prudent, 
fore-seeing eyes, patriotic eyes of earnest 
and wise Americans rested upon that out- 
post of Americanism, seeing in it the key 
to the protection, preservation, progress 



37 



HAWAII 



and eternal prosperity of onr twenty-five 
thousand miles of Pacific Coast. 

In 1841 President Tyler gave notice to 
the world that the American Government 
was looking after Hawaii, recognizing 
thereby that in these islands lay the 
defense of the nation from invasion Paci- 
ficward. In the sixty-odd years which 
have followed, the United States has 
never for a moment failed to realize the 
necessity of keeping other nations from 
controlling the islands which practically 
are the key to the entire Pacific for ail 
manner of transportation, except as it 
creeps up and down the coast of China. 
And yet, in all these years, not an ade- 
quate fortification of any kind has been 
placed there, nor has a single effective 
step been taken to make available the one 
perfect, landlocked harbor within thou- 
sands of miles in any direction — Pearl 
Harbor, a few miles down the coast from 
Honolulu. 

We have suffered spasmodic twinges of 
foreboding over what we ought to have 
done long ago. We have taken down the 
key and fondled it, then hung it up again. 

In 1854, under all kinds of threats from 



other nations. King Kamehameha sought 
to protect himself from obliteration by 
appealing to the United States to annex 
the Hawaiian Islands; but that eff'ort 
failed. At the close of the Civil War 
Secretary Seward took the matter up and 
gave it a vigorous push. He sent a secret 
agent to the islands to investigate thor- 
oughly and arrange a purchase price. For 
a time American statesmen who were be- 
hind the movement felt that the trans- 
action was assured. Seward had a dream 
of the development of the Pacific which, 
if at that time he could have follow^ed to 
fulfillment, wdth a free hand, would long 
since have resulted in a gigantic commer- 
cial supremacy and military dominance 
of the Pacific for the benefit of America. 
But that was many years ago ! Seward 
found himself so mercilessly criticized 
and condemned for the purchase of 
Alaska that his courage failed him. He 
let the effort die in swaddling clothes. 

To-day Japan is well in the lead, com- 
mercially at least, and capable of holding 
her own. Every other maritime nation 
on earth is participating — every nation 
but America. America owns the Philip- 




THE JUDICIARY BUILDING. HONOLULU 

The second floor is occupied by the Territorial Supreme Court and the First Circuit Court ; the left half of the first 

floor by the United States District Court 




From Stereograph, Copyright, by H. O. White Oo. 

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OP HONOLULU 

Massive business blocks, electric cars, and new highways bordered with beautiful residences, mark the rapid 
development of the city 



pines and Guam, on one side, and 25,000 
miles of coast on the other side, and the 
commerce of her Hawaiian territory 
alone was $47,741,300 last year; but 
America has less than a dozen ships to fly 
her flag in the merchant service of the 
Pacific Ocean. We have killed our mer- 
chant marine by oppressive shipping laws 
and refused to compensate by protective 
aid. So that this much of Seward's dream 
has gone beyond our grasp, but Haw^aii 
remains the key to the Pacific and the 
only safeguard of our western coast. 



Before the Spanish War there was an- 
other effort toward possession of that 
key. We were very generally roused to 
the dire necessity of possessing it. We 
were told on every hand of the vital im- 
portance, the strategic importance of 
Pearl Harbor as the real — and the only 
— way of protecting our Pacific coast. 
There was not, then, the added necessity 
of a mid-ocean fortress, refuge, base and 
coaling station, on account of the Philip- 
pines, but the imperative duty w^hich the 
country owed to its Pacific coast, in a 



39 




THE PALI ROAD LEADING FROM 
Beautiful sceuery with the superb tropical glory 



spirit of self-preservation, brought Con- 
gress to order preliminary steps toward 
the possession of enough of Pearl Har- 
bor for the constrnction there of a naval 
coaling station. A small appropriation 
was made to begin the business and we 
had fair hopes that something would be 
doing that would result in a safe, sure 
harbor, properly fortified and protected, 
from which stronghold it would be a sim- 
ple matter to prevent any fleet under 
heaven from approaching our coast, for 
without another harbor in thousands of 
miles, for coal and supplies, nothing could 
reach the coast prepared to fight, much 
less to get away again. Nothing would 
attempt it, leaving an enemy's stronghold 
in mid-ocean behind it. 

Then the war with Spain revived an- 
nexation, rendering it imperative, and in 
the possession of the whole. Pearl Harbor 
was again utterly forgotten. Even the 
original appropriation was not wholly 
expended, and for ten years, from that 
day to this, we have hardly lifted a finger 
toward perfecting Pearl Harbor. An 
Englishman standing on the deck of a 
steamer beside me as we were passing 
Pearl Harbor, a year ago, remarked: 
"It's damned odd." So it is, but also 



true. From time to time prudent ones 
foreseeing evil have written and orated, 
taking various texts — the possibility of 

r 





HONOLULU IN THE NUUANU VALLEY 

of flowers and foliage is everywhere outside the business district 



a war with Japan, for instance, in which 
case no one could deny that with a single 
I battle-ship the brown nation could take 





p?'' 






^M 


^ 


1 ■[i^RfK:ip& 


Ik' 


Si 



AND AS SHE IS 



possession of the islands as they are, to- 
day, without the necessity of firing a sin- 
gle shot; and the sure demands which 
must shortly be made upon Hawaii in the 
tremendous increase in shipping which 
w^ill follow the opening of the Panama 
Canal, when almost everything passing 
through the canal, except for South 
America and New Zealand, must of neces- 
sity call there for supplies. The little 
open harbor, the ocean roadstead, in front 
of Honolulu, would be hopelessly inade- 
quate for the transaction of business. 

Patriotic dwellers in Honolulu have 
lost no opportunity to urge the dire neces- 
sity of something, if only for the develop- 
ment of Hawaii's self, and at last the 
presence of the great fleet off San Fran- 
cisco has apparently added a final straw, 
in demanding attention. It has brought 
forcibly to the front the fact that the key 
to the Pacific still hangs upon its dusty 
peg ; that Japan and Manila are the near- 
est harbors where the fleet could find 
anchorage, if it followed the course of 
empire from San Francisco. While these 
lines are being written a little bill is wait- 
ing the attention of Congress, asking for 
$300,000 to begin again the development 
of Pearl Harbor. Compare the amount 



41 



42 



HAWAII 




with the colossal appropriation so easily 
obtained for the building of a single bat- 
tle-ship ; and then the relative benefit to 
be derived from the perfecting of Pearl 
Harbor or the addition of another battle- 
ship to our navy. 



An enemy in possession of Hawaii 
would separate us absolutely from the 
Philippines and could harass and threaten 
our entire coast ; while on the other hand 
our own fleet, operating from a well- 
equipped base at Pearl Harbor, would 
practically prohibit any approach from 
the Orient. The equipment of this harbor 
is absolutely necessary to the successful 
operations of American fleets, whether 
acting offensively or defensively on the 
Pacific. The development of the harbor 
is equally necessary for the tremendous 
increase in the demands of transportation 
which we shall create with the opening of 
the canal. 

But there is more to Hawaii than a 
strategic point for a naval base. There 
is a duty of protection and development 
which we owe our new territory, greater 
than the claims of self-preservation. And 
there are other things which are needed 
besides coaling stations and fortifications. 

The Hawaiian Islands were a part of 
us long before they were annexed. For 
a generation a strong American com- 
munity had dominated public and private 
thought and action. It was an Ameri- 
canized nation which we annexed and 
made a territory of the United States. In 
becoming a dependent territory, subject 
to our control — and incidentally turning 
something like a million dollars a year 
into the treasury of the United States — 
Hawaii naturally lost something of her 
internal power of self-preservation and 
she faces several problems, to-day, calling 
for a helping hand more than for drastic 
legislation. 

For example, counting native Hawaii- 
ans, half-whites, Americans, Portuguese, 
Teutons and all other races on one side 
and only Asiatics on the other, the popu- 
lation of the islands, to-day, is more than 
half Asiatic. It is increasingly evident 
that for the protection and progress of 
Americanism Hawaii needs Americans — 
needs American farmers more than any- 
thing else — and to know the islands is to 
wonder that the want has not long since 
been supplied by overwhelming migration. 
Phenomenal possibilities are offered in 
agriculture. A few who have pioneered 
in fruit canning have made a great suc- 
cess of it, in a small way. Sisal fiber of 
the highest grade, for binding twine, is 
returning good profit. Coffee and tobacco 




OAHU COLLEGE, HAWAII 

These schools, internally and externally, are institutions of which any city in America i 



ight be proud 



of superior quality are being successfully 
produced in limited quantities. Almost all 
of the fruits and grains of New England 
have yielded ample encouragement to 
isolated efforts, while everything tropical 
can be produced at its best. Yet, as a 
matter of fact, almost all of the pork, 
beef, poultry, butter, eggs and citrus 
products consumed in Hawaii are im- 
ported. Oranges, lemons and limes are 
among the easiest and most prolific prod- 
ucts, yet even the oranges and lemons are 
imported from California. Hawaii needs 
American farmers. And American farm- 
ers need Hawaii. 

No climate in the world is more con- 
ciliatory to the white man with a burden. 
The islands are in the tropics, but they 
know nothing of the sweltering heat of 
the torrid zone. The summers are much 
cooler than New England. The winter 
never reaches frost. The thermometer 
never goes above 85. It never falls below 
52, Hundreds of Asiatics work little 



vegetable gardens in the low suburban dis- 
tricts about the city and they are there to 
stay, but five thousand enterprising Amer- 
ican farmers could find desirable and at 
the same time delightful locations in the 
healthy upland districts, with the home 
consumption of their products increased 
by the tremendous demand which must 
follow the opening of the canal. 

Hawaii needs Americans. Both Pearl 
Harbor and Honolulu bay will be taxed 
to the utmost with shipping, and within 
a few years there will be two large com- 
mercial cities there, and a populous, busy, 
wealthy state looms in the near future 
behind them. There are great possibil- 
ities to be taken advantage of and 
threatened dangers to be averted. It is 
Hawaii's easy destiny to become the head- 
light of Americanism on the Pacific, but 
she must be strengthened by men as well 
as by forts; she must have a safe harbor 
and more of America back of it if we 
hope to hold the key we coveted so long 



43 



44 



HAWAII 



and forgot as soon as we possessed it. She 
must have aid, not hampering, from 
America. Congressional paternalism has 
imposed some laws upon the new territory 
which are oppressive and dangerous. It 
is always a serious proposition to legislate 
upon problems of which we have no real 



called out of aboriginal shadows and 
guided to modern things by some of the 
best of the old stock of New England 
grafted upon the beautiful tropical para- 
dise. The coterie of pioneers who began 
the work and the sons who carried it on, 
themselves in many cases born in the 




A SUBURBAN RESIDENCE IN HONOLULU 



conception — making laws upon theories 
instead of facts — and Congress has made 
several blunders in its efforts to regu- 
late Hawaii on principles which obtain 
through the states. 

In matters purely legislative, Hawaii has 
proven, during the past ten years, that she 
is remarkably capable of self-government. 
She had a long history back of annexation 
which had drilled her people in the art, 
and the church polity also helped them. 
In 1863 the churches were freed from mis- 
sionary control and began a career of self- 
government which taught the people to 
think, debate and vote upon conviction. 
The state is now reaping the benefit. More 
emphatically to the point, Hawaii was 



islands, form a list of Americans almost as 
illustrious as those that began the work 
earlier on the "wild New England coast." 
Ex-President Sanford B. Dole and his as- 
sociates will be even stronger in history 
than they are to-day, for the outpost of 
America which they established far out on 
the Pacific. 

The strides which Hawaii made under 
their guidance, the strides which Hono- 
lulu has made during the last ten years 
under increased impetus, are almost 
miraculous. To old friends Honolulu 
seems to claim a pace with the mushroom 
development of the Yankee West. The 
massive walls of business blocks keep out 
the heat instead of the cold. New high- 



PLANTING SUGAR-CANE 



ways, bordered with beautiful suburban 
residences, stretch away into the foothills. 
Electric ears find their way for miles in 
various directions beyond the city. But 
everything except the business streets is 
still submerged in the superb glory of the 
tropics — flowers and foliage such as can 



not be found anywhere else on earth. 
Nature has a right of way in Hawaii 
which she will not easily surrender. Beau- 
tiful homes and beautiful lives she renders 
possible, for the poorest as well as the rich. 
For if there is a spot of earth where one 
may smile at adversity and feel that 




THE GROWING CANE 

45 



46 



HAWAII 



money is not everything, that spot is 
Hawaii. 

In nothing has Hawaii made greater 
strides toward the best Americanism than 
in her educational department. The 
Honolulu High School and the Oahu Col- 
lege and the Kamehameha School are tri- 
umphs, internally and externally, of 
which any city in America would be 
proud. It is no accident, but the result 
of earnest patriotism and persistent 
energy on the part of those men whose 
names will forever be linked with Hawaii, 
that the islands have arrived at the high 
standard of Americanism which they hold 
to-day. The three daily papers in Eng- 



this — even to some extent into the Chinese 
and slightly into the Japanese — the influ- 
ence of the fading Hawaiian permeates. 
The Hawaiian is not dead and will not 
die. Racially he will become obsolete. 
So have almost all races of men. It would 
exhaust the resources of ethnological 
mathematics to calculate the correct racial 
proportions of the American; and Ha- 
Avaiians have at last drifted into the uni- 
versal stream of racial absorption. That 
is all. But Hawaiian blood improves in 
miscegenation. Countless proofs of this 
are easily recalled by anyone who has 
lived long in the islands. And when the 
race shall live only in histo'-v there will 




lish are another convincing evidence. 
Read them and you realize that they em- 
anate from a genuine American ideal, 
ethically, socially and politically. 

It is a popular belief that the native 
Hawaiian is dying out. Theoretically it 
is true, but practically he is making good. 
Actually he can not die. The exact racial 
division of the population of the islands is 
not at this moment obtainable to date, but 
according to recent statistics there are 
about ten thousand Anglo-Saxons, two 
thousand five hundred Teutons, thirty 
thou.sand pure Hawaiians, ten thousand 
part HaAvaiians, twenty-five thousand 
Portuguese and eighty-five thousand Chi- 
nese and Japanese. But through all of 



still remain its indelible characteristics 
in gentleness of disposition, courteous 
dignity and open-handed friendliness 
sorely needed by the sterner stuff pro- 
duced in colder climates. In losing his 
racial identity the Hawaiian greatly 
enriches the cosmopolitan man now in the 
evolutionary alembic. 

The Hawaiian is a born book-lover. 
Illiteracy is practically unknown in the 
islands. He has not, thank Heaven, been 
Occidentalized. Some are tempted to 
speak lightly of the prevalent Christianity 
of the native and call him only a white- 
washed pagan. There is more or less 
ground for it. But whitewashed pagan- 
ism is not the worst thing in the world. 



HAWAII 



47 



The exuberance, gentleness, generosity 
and eternal beauty of Nature in Hawaii, 
render it difficult for even foreigners to 
remain long thoroughly Occidental. The 
free wind, free water and free sunshine 
work wonders of moderation and beauty 
upon all nature, mental and physical. A 
man can not live long in beautiful Hawaii 
without partaking of its lavish generosity. 
There are many merry incidents in his 
nature-day when the regulation g-arb of 
Broadway would be as impossible as a 
cat-boat for hi.s surf-shooting. The swim- 
ming pools are his. Who would exchange 
them for a promiscuous bath hut on the 
beach? Nature's pantry tempts him, 
where even a whitewashed pagan has but 
to open his mouth and be sure that it will 
be filled. How many times I Ve envied him 
his uniform, his pleasures and his per- 
quisites. It was easier for the women to 
Occidental ize themselves somewhat and 
by compromise devices keep themselves 
still cool and pretty. The past-time belle. 



still easily in the memory of many, has 
practically disappeared, with her wonder- 
ful hair, her masses of flowers and her 
face always longing to laugh. But her 
transformation sits astride a horse, all 
in bright colors, still, and happy still in 
spite of restraining influences. They are 
all happy. Even the dear old mother — 
great, great grandmother — who has seen 
the transformations of a hundred years 
which have changed the Hawaiian Islands 
from barbarism to be the Pacific headlight 
of Americanism — even the dear old 
mother, with her snow-white hair and a 
face that is much readier to smile than 
frown, sees the new world and is happy. 
Beautiful Hawaii! If we can not serve 
her and save her for any other argument, 
let us do it and do it quickly, because she 
has a harbor — Pearl Harbor — which is the 
key to the safety of our twenty-five thou- 
sand miles of coast and the connecting 
link in the chain that binds us to our 
white elephant on the China coast. 








TRANSPORTING SUGAR CANE 




GUAM AI^D OITR SMALLER 
ISLANDS IN THE PACIFIC 



BY 

E LIZA B ETH E A 1KB A NK 8 



The United States was first introduced 
to the Island of Guam in 1801, when the 
good bark "Lydia," Salem-built and owned, 
carried thither from Manila a Spanish 
governor and his suite. The Yankee cap- 
tain and his crew little dreamed that the 
island to whose waters they had borne the 
"Stars and Stripes" for the first time would, 
a hundred years later, pass from the owner- 
ship of Spain to that of their native land. 

In the years that followed, the acquaint- 
ance thus begun did not grow perceptibly. 
Other American ships called at the little 
island for water or provisions, and went 
their way. The world at large knew little 



of those insignificant specks of land in the 
western Pacific, which, in their geography 
days, they found designated on their map? 
as the "Marianne or Ladrone Islands." 
Magellan discovered the islands in 1521, 
and bestowed on them the latter name, 
which is Spanish for robber. The inhabi- 
tants of Guam naturally objected to such an 
offensive name and requested the authorities 
to have it dropped. And thus, the latter name 
is no longer good form, and henceforth on 
all government maps and charts the islands 
will be known only by the name "Mari- 
anne," which was bestowed on the islands 
in honor of Maria Ana, of Austria, wife 



48 



GUAM AND OUR SMALLER ISLANDS 



49 



of Philip IV. of Spain, in recognition of 
her interest in the conversion and education 
of the natives. 

For a century and a half after their dis- 
covery, Spain made no effort to colonize 
the islands. Then a Jesuit mission was 
estahlished and the work of civilization, ac- 
cording to Spanish ideals, was begun. The 
Ji'suits were in control for a hundred 
years, and then were superseded by the 
Recollet missionaries. Guam could never 
have been a source of much profit to Spain, 
for its resources, almost wholly agricultural, 
are very limited. She succeeded in making 
the people ardent Roman Catholics, made 
some progress in education, introduced most 
domestic animals and. to a limited extent, 



war existed, as he had been for some months 
without a message from the outside world. 
When the excitement of war was over and 
the results of the conflict had been sifted 
and settled by treaty, Guam remained as 
a permanent possession of the United 
States, while the other islands of the group 
were ceded to Germany. The newly ac- 
quired possessions and responsibilities of 
the United States now became objects of 
general and absorbing interest. Far-away, 
diminutive Guam has come in for her share 
of consideration, and is gradually becoming 
known through magazine and newspaper 
articles. 

There are fourteen islands comprising the 
Marianne group. They form a chain ex- 




ENTRANCE TO HARBOR SAN LUIS D'APRA 



improved agricultural methods. Her sway 
in Guam, as in so many of her colonial 
possessions, was destined to be superseded, 
at the close of the nineteenth century, by 
that of a younger and more progressive 
nation. 

On June 20th, 1898, a little more than a 
month after the battle of Manila Bay, an 
American cruiser, the Charleston, steamed 
into the harbor of San Luis D'Apra 
and fired a shot, which meant that 
Uncle Sam, stretching out his long 
arm, had taken the small island for his 
own, and that henceforth the Stars and 
Stripes were to float over Guam. The 
Spanish governor did not even know that 



tending north and south some 450 miles, in 
latitude 13° 14'— 20° '30' north, and longi- 
tude 142° 31'— 143° 46' east. They are 
of volcanic origin and surrounded by coral 
reefs. In some of the more northern 
islands there is still occasionally volcanic 
activity. Guam, the southernmost and 
largest island of the group, has the best 
harbor in that part of the Pacific, and for 
that reason and also because of its strate- 
gic position — 3,330 miles west of Honolulu 
and 1,520 miles east of Manila — it is of 
great value to the United States as a naval 
and coaling station. 

The impression given to the voyager by 
the first view of the island is that of a low. 




A STREET IN AGANA 



long strip of land, lying desolate in a 
waste of waters. Drawing nearer, the land 
grows into a mountainous ridge, with 
rugged crags and peaks. The dark horder 
about the base of the range finally appears 
as the vivid green of tropical foliage. Ca- 
bras island and a large coral reef form a 
natural breakwater to the harbor, San 
Luis D'Apra. The view of Guam from 
the harbor is delightful. About the land- 
ing place are clusters of native huts, some 
of adobe and others mere wooden frames, 
quite open to the weather. Through the 
tropical foliage are visible the thatched 
roofs of the village, and beyond the matted 
verdure rise the bare, brown mountains — 
a somber, rugged background. 

The island is about 32 miles long, from 
4 to 10 miles wide, and contains a little 
more than 200 square miles. The narrow- 
est point is near the middle of the island, 
where it is less than four miles from 
shore to shore. The surface is divided into 
two distinct parts by a ridge varying from 
500 to 1,400 feet in height. The northern 
part is a mesa, or plateau, from 300 to 
600 feet above the sea, an ancient coral 
reef. It is without springs or streams, 
owing to the porous nature of the soil. 
The surface of this plateau slopes gradu- 
ally upward to the coast, where it ends in 
high cliffs. Near the middle of the island, 
in the vicinity of Agaiia, is a large spring, 
whose waters, after oozing through a 
swamp, form themselves into the Agana 
River. Its channel has been artificially 
lengthened and turned from its natural 



course for the convenience of the natives. 
The southern part of the island, almost 
wholly of volcanic origin, is mountainous, 
with numerous valleys and small streams. 
Along the western coast is a low, fertile 
strip extending from Agaiia south, and 
upon this the population of the island is 
settled. 

The soil is shallow, and is composed 
mainly of disintegrated coral. Its reddish 
hue is owing to the presence of oxide of 
iron. In the valleys and forests, especially 
in damp, SAvampy places, vegetable mold 
has accumulated, which is quite rich and 
fertile. There is, so far as is now known, 
no mineral wealth in Guam, but some in- 
dications of iron ore and also of gypsum 
may prove in time to be iinportant. 

The trees native to the island are the 
breadfruit, banyan, ironwood, and sev- 
eral kinds of palms, including the cocoa- 
nut. The latter is the most valuable of 
all, as the pulp of the nut, dried, and 
known as "copra," supplies the islanders 
with their principal article of export. 

The principal crojis, corn and sweet po- 
tatoes, are raised only for home consump- 
tion. The other cultivated products — rice, 
sugar, coffee, cocoa and tobacco — are not 
raised in sufficient quantities to meet the 
necessities of the people living on the 
island. 

Besides the domestic animals introduced 
by the Spaniards,, there are deer, Avild hogs, 
ducks, curlews, snipe and pigeons. The wa- 
ters teem with edible fish. With the ex- 
ception of several kinds of lizards, the 



50 



GUAM AND OUK SMALLER ISLANDS 



51 



island is free from reptiles. Guam has its 
share of mosquitoes, flies and centipedes, 
and two varieties of bats, one of which lives 
upon fruit and grows to enormous size, the 
other insectivorous and snuill. Butterflies 
of all colors, and brilliantly marked birds 
add to the interest and beauty of the 
country. 

Guam, lying in tropic seas, and having a 
mean annual temperature of about 81 de- 
grees, is on the dividing line between the 
northeast trade winds and the monsoons of 
the China Sea. From December to June the 
prevailing winds are from the northeast. 
The nights are cool and refreshing showers 
are frequent. The most agreeable months 
are ]\Iarch, A])ril, May and June. From 
July to December, southwest winds hold 
sway, often accompanied by heavy rains. 
Hurricanes may occur at any time, but are 
most frequent in October and November. 
They are much to be dreaded, and often 
cause great loss of 'life and property. 
Earthquakes, while frequent, are not gen- 
erally violent, but there have been some 
very destructive ones. 

The inhabitants of Guam are descend- 
ants of the original Chamorros and of im- 
migrant Tagals and Spaniards from the 
Philippine Islands. In their physical char- 
acteristics the natives resemble the Hawaii- 
ans, having light brown skin, straight black 
hair and fine features. The men are 
dressed in shirt and trousers, with a straw 
hat, and the women in white waist with 
flowing sleeves and a trailing skirt. The 
people of Spanish extraction are fairly in- 



telligent, live in houses built of coral stone, 
and have many of the comforts of life. 
The poorer classes, natives and Half-breeds, 
live in wooden shacks, built on poles three 
or four feet above the ground, the space 
below being utilized by the pigs, dogs and 
chickens owned by the family. They are 
naturally indolent, cowardly and supersti- 
tious, but they have their redeeming qual- 
ities and show much of friendliness when 
properly treated. Their love for music is 
indulged to the utmost, and it is believed 
by those most conversant with their char- 
acteristics that education and training will 
make these people industrious, sober and 
useful members of their community. The 
native language contains Chamorro and 
Tagal words, but Spanish is also spoken, 
and the use of English is spreading. 

The population as shown by the Ameri- 
can census of 1901 was 9,GSG. It is now 
close to 11.000, mostly gathered in Agaiia, 
the capital, and the villages of the west 
coast. Agafia, with about 7,500 of popu- 
lation, lies on a low sandy plain on the 
seashore. Through it flows tite sluggish 
Agafia Eiver, which serves the ^ople as a 
bath, open sewer, and laundry. From 
Agafia to Apra, a distance of seven miles, 
is a hard well constructed road. 

The government has bought a large tract 
of land at Sumway, and will use it for the 
naval station. In the same village is the 
station of the Pacific Commercial Cable 
Company, whose lines connect Guam with 
the continental portion of the United 
States, via Honolulu, and with the 




A FISHERMAN'S VILLAGE lUIILT OVER THE WATER 




THE QUARTERS OF THE COMMERCIAL PACIFIC CABLE COMPANY 



Philippines. A German cahle, opened in 
1905, extends to Yap, in the Carolines, 
where cahle connections are made with 
MeSado in Celehes. and the German colo- 
nies in New Guinea and the Bismarck 
Archipelago. 

Since Guam became a possession of the 
United States its affairs have been admin- 
istered l)v tlio naval officer in charsfe of the 



marine force there stationed. These officers 
have proved able governors, and it wonld be 
hard to recount all that has been accom- 
plished towards bettering the condition of 
the island and its inhabitants. About 
1,600 children from seven to nine 3^ears of 
age, are benefiting by the compulsory school 
system now in operation in x\gana and in 
the villages. The children are taiiclit in 




THE MARINE CAMP 
Twenty-two members of the United States Marine Corps live here as evidence that the isiands are an American 

military station 
52 




THE GARDEN SPOT OP MIDWAY 
The only tree on the island, six and a half feet high, and the only place where Bermud: 
successfully grown 

Enolisli, and learn carpentry and other It 



grass has been 



handicrafts. An agricultural experiment 
station has been estal)lished, the superin- 
tendent of which instructs a class of from 
oO to 40 boys in scientific methods of agri- 
culture. The government has undertaken 
various public works, such as the improve- 
ment of the harbor and public highways, 
and the construction of water and sewage 
systems. Justice is administered in accord- 
ance with the old S])anish system, some- 
what modified by the insular authorities. 



is the opinion of all who have ob- 
served the unfolding and expansion of the 
American idea as thus far carried out in 
Guam, that the most potent uplifting force 
exerted has been that of the medical officers 
of the naval station. At least three of these 
officers arc always on the island, and from 
the beginning of American occupation they 
have served the people, regardless of per- 
sonal hardship and suffering. In 1898 
there was not an ounce of nu^dicine on 
the island. The people were fatalists, and 




MARINES GETTING THEIR CANNED RATIONS FROM A CELLAR OR "DUGOUT' 

53 



54 



GUAM AND OUR SMALLER LSLANDS 



content to trust to simple remedies 
and in sickness they were afraid of water 
and extremely neglectful. As a result, 
mortality was high^ especially among the 
newly born. The doctors have had an 
incessant battle with ignorance, and habits 
as old as the race. They have battered 
down the walls of supci'stiiion and won the 
confidence and love oT llie ix'ople. To-day 
the lowered death rate, the hospitals built 
by natives, the improved sanitary condi- 
tions everywhere evident, all proclaim the 
rare intelligence and devotion of these mis- 
sionary scientists. It may be predicted 
with safety that the government will' in 
time make the island a place where will 



the Midway Islands. Those two lonely 
strips of land, named for their position 
midway between Asia and America, were 
discovered by an American, Captain 
Brooks, in 18G0. The United States paid 
no attention to the land thus discovered 
until caljle communication with the insular 
possessions acquired as a result of the Span- 
ish war became a necessity. Then the own- 
ership of the ]\Iidway group became a mat- 
ter of vital importance as the site of one of 
the relay stations for the cal)le line between 
San Francisco and Manila. A warship 
was, therefore, sent to the islands, and a 
marine station established to fortify our 
claim by actual occupation. 




TERNS ON THE MIDWAY ISLANDS 

The shrubs are dwarf magnolia bushes, the only vegetation there 



prevail that intelligent regard for and ob- 
servance of law and order which alone make 
life desiraljle. 

The Midway Islands 

The United States has, from time to 
time, raised her flag over a number of un- 
inhabited rocks and strips of land in the 
Pacific Ocean, thus giving notice that they 
are no longer available for adoption by 
other nations. Many of these possessions 
are of no present practical value to the 
national government, but the policy of thus 
marking them for her own is undoubtedly 
a sound one. That it is well to be pre- 
pared for emergencies was never more forci- 
bly illustrated than it was in the case of 



The two islands, one called Sand or 
Western Island, the other Eastern Island, 
contain but a few acres of land each. 
Surrounding them is a coral reef some 
eighteen miles in circumference, five feet 
high and about twenty-five feet wide. 
The first mentioned island, the one occu- 
pied, is one and three-fourths miles in 
length and about three^ourths of a mile in 
width. As its name indicates, it is a Avaste 
of coral sand almost destitude of verdure. 
One or two patches of coarse grass and a 
few low shrubs, known as dwarf magnolias, 
are the only traces of vegetation. 

01)servation Hill, the highest point on 
the island, is forty-three feet above the sea, 
while the rest of the surface varies from 




OBSERVATION HILL AND LIGHTHOUSE 
This is the highest point on the island, only fifteen feet above the level of the sea 



throe to fifteen feet above sea level. It will 
thus l)e seen that the islands would be unfit 
lor human habitation but for the shelterin.ij 
reef, which forms a perfect protection 
against the waves of the ocean. 

In 1903 the Commercial Pacific Cable 
Company established its station, where 
messages are received, reinforced, and sent 
east or west to their destination. The su- 
perintendent of the cable station has a 
force of seventeen men, and these, with the 
twenty-two marines, make up the island's 
population. The nearest point of land is 



Hawaii, more than twelve hundred miles 
distant. The life of the dwellers on the 
island is one of isolation and monotony. 
It is not, however, utterly devoid of excite- 
ment. An occasional typhoon, with a 
ninety-mile breeze, has once or twice caused 
the little company grave misgivings; the 
army and navy transports call, as do also 
some of the ocean liners, while the vessels 
of the Commercial Pacific Cable Company 
make regular visits. But life at Midway 
would 1)6 far more desolate than it is did 
not the cable keo]i the islanders in constant 




AN AFTERNOON TEA 

Mrs. Colley, the only woman on the island, is the hostess 

55 




A SCENE IM TLTliLA 



touch with the whole wide world, throucrh 
the messages which, dav and night, are re- 
ceived and retransmitted through its 
agency. 

Tutuila 

A portion of the Samoa Islands — con- 
sisting of Tutuila, seventy miles from Apia, 
and the smaller Ofu. Olusinga and Tau of 
the Manua group — came into possession of 
the United States in January, 1900. Pre- 
vious to that date, however, American influ- 



ence had been strong in Samoa, and the 
harbor of Pago Pago, in Ttituila, had 
been a United States naval and coaling 
station since 1873. In 1889 Great Britain, 
Germany, and the United States, in a 
treaty framed at Berlin, recognized the 
Samoan Islands as neutral territory, with 
an independent government, the natives l)e- 
ing allowed to follow tlieir own laws and 
customs, while for civil and criminal 
causes in which foreigners were concerned, 
there was established a Supreme Court of 



56 



GUAM AND OtTR SMALLER ISLANDS 



57 



Justice, in which an American citizen was 
the presiding judge. This arrangement 
continued till 1898, when disturbances re- 
garding the right of succession to the office 
of king arose. In 1899 the kingship was 
abolished, and by the Anglo-German Agree- 
ment of November 1-1 of that year, Great 
Britain and Germany renounced in favor 
of the United States all rights over the 
Island of Tutuila and the other islands of 
the Samoan group east of the 171st merid- 
ian, the islands to the west of that l)eing 
assigned to Germany. 

Tutuila has an area of aljout -54 square 



The commandant of the naval station at 
Pago Pago is the "Governor of Tutuila." 
He appoints officers and frames laws and 
ordinances. Native customs, unless incon- 
sistent with laws of the United States, still 
prevail. 

The islands are organized in three polit- 
ical divisions, in each of which there is a 
native governor, under whom are native 
high chiefs in the counties, these in turn 
having control of the village chiefs. Judi- 
cial power is vested in village courts, in five 
judicial district courts, and in a high court. 

There are about forty schools in the 




THE COPRA IXDU.STKV, TL ILILA 



miles, with a population of 3,800 miles. 
The Manua group has a united area of 
about 25 square miles, with about 2,000 in- 
habitants. Tutuila is mountainous, luxu- 
riantly wooded and fertile. It is described 
as the most pleasing of the Samoan islands. 
The harbor at Pago Pago, which ]3enetrates 
the south coast like a fiord, could hold the 
entire naval force of the United States, and 
is the only good harbor in Samoa. 



islands, attended by nearly 1.500 pupils of 
both sexes. Education is wholly in the 
hands of three religious missions : The Lon- 
don Missionary Society, the Roman Catho- 
lic mission, and the Mormon mission. 

The chief island products are copra, 
taro, breadfruit, yams, cocoanuts, and ba- 
nanas. 

The United States possesses a number of 
other small islands in the Pacific, some of 



58 



GtTAM AND OFE S:\fALLER ISLANDS 



which are hardly more than rocks or coral 
reefs. Among them are : 



Gardner Island in lat. 4° south, long. 
176° west. 



Christmas Island, a large, low atoll Howland Island, in lat. 0° 49' north, 

in lat. 1° 57' north, long. 157° 26' west. lono-. 176° 40' west. 
It has a good anchorage and has been much 

visited for its deposits of gnano. Johnston Island, lat 16° north, long. 

Baker Island, in lat. 0° 13' north, long. 

176° 29' west. It was taken possession of Palmyra Island, in lat. 5° 49' north, 

1 V the United States in 1857. long. 160° 30' west. 




THE ROAD OF LOVING HEARTS l.EAlJJM. To OLU UU.MK oF JioUEKT LoFFS STEVENSON 




■ALASKA AND ITS AYEALTH 



WALLACE W. ATWOOD 

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY, THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 
GEOLOGIST OF THE U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



LL that happened in 
Alaska prior to 1897 is 
there considered an- 
cient history. Those 
who came into the coun- 
try in '97 or '98 are 
old-timers, and almost 
every one of them who 
has remained in the country has deserv- 
ingly won the title of "sour dough." 
They tired of baking-powder biscuits, 
and a pail of sour dough in the corner 
behind the stove became a familiar object 




in the cabin. Many of the stampeders 
who stood in line at Chilcoot, Chilcat or 
White Pass have made good and left the 
country; others have made good several 
times and are to-day looking for some one 
to ''grub-stake" them for another pros- 
pecting trip. Some were misfits in such 
a country, and most of them have drifted 
away. 

The latest excitement is in the Innoka 
region in the lower portion of the Yukon 
basin. Hundreds of men, and some 
women, have been rushing to the new 



Copyrighted. 1908. by Wallace W. Atwood 
59 



60 



ALASKA 



strike to stake out claims. Some rich 
deposits of gold have been found in this 
new camp, and about two hundred people 
planned to spend the winter there. The 
results of the winter's prospecting and 
next summer's sluicing will do much to 
determine the fate of the camp. 




A MINER WASHING OUT GOLD 

Fairbanks, the largest gold camp of 
the interior of Alaska, is located in the 
midst of rich placer ground and will long 
continue to be a great gold producer. 
The annual production from this camp is 
about $10,000,000. At Nome, the chief 
interest is now in the third beach line. 
There the claims are distributed among a 
great many owners, and active work is in 
progress on almost every claim. The 
work consists of sinking through about 
sixty-five feet of ancient shore gravel to 
bed-rock, thawing the frozen gravel by 
means of steam points, hoisting the gravel 
to the surface, and passing it through the 
sluice-boxes. The pay streak at this place 
is of sand and gravel about eighteen 
inches thick and limited to a zone about 



one hundred feet wide. This material 
immediately overlies the bed-rock, and 
the gold in it is so plentiful that it can be 
seen by the unaided eye. 

From one claim on this old beach line 
over $300,000 was taken in a single 
month. A single clean-up on August 17, 
1907, made after three days of sluicing, 
amounted to $40,000. The gold occurs as 
small nuggets, in grains, as flakes and as 
dust. The coarser gold is caught in the 
riffles of the sluice-boxes, and most of the 
fine dust amalgamates with the quick- 
silver which is on metal plates in the bot- 
tom of certain of the lower boxes. At 
several points along this third beach, the 
old dumps are being reworked, and the 
men thus engaged are m.aking better than 
good wages. 

In the Pacific-coast provinces of Alaska, 
the interest is chiefly in the copper and 
coal resources. An exception must be 
made in the case of the Treadwell ]\Iine, 
near Juneau, where the steady stamping 
of large quantities of low-grade gold ore 
continues to pay good dividends. The cop- 
per interests are centered about Ketchi- 
kan, Copper River and Prince AVilliam 
Sound. Active mining and smelting are 
going on in the Ketchikan district, and 
large quantities of ore are being shipped 
from Prince William Sound. The Cop- 
per River district awaits the building of 
a railroad. 

As yet the valuable coal fields in the 
coastal province of Alaska have been lit- 
tle developed. They also await the build- 
ing of railroads. The Controller Bay 
field is the most accessible of the high- 
grade coal fields, and active work is now 
being done on the railroad connecting 
that field with the coast. This railroad 
will cross the Copper River delta to the 
west of the coal field and reach tidewater 
at Cordova on Prince William Sound. 
The main line of the road will follow the 
Copper River Valley to the rich ore de- 
posits in the upper portion of that basin. 

This railroad will make it possible to 
develop many properties in the Copper 
River district that thus far have re- 
mained untouched, and may also be ex- 
pected to lead to the erection of a smelter 
on the shores of Prince William Sound, 
where the ores shipped by rail or water 
and the coal shipped from the Controller 
Bay field may be brought together. The 




THE METROPOLIS OF NOME, THE BASE OP SUPPLY FOR THE MINING CAMPS 



copper ores from Latouche and Knight's 
Island, in Prince William Sound, must 
now be shipped either to southeastern 
Alasl^a to the Hadley smelter or to the 



Taeoma smelters. The Alaska Central 
Railroad, which has Seward as its ocean 
terminus, is headed toward the Matan- 
uska coal field, and will in time lead to 




A MAP SHOWING THE KNOWN DISTRIBUTION OF THE MINERAL RESOURCES OF ALASKA 

61 



62 



ALASKA 



the development of that field and bring 
large quantities of high-grade coal into 
the Alaskan and other Pacific-coast mar- 
kets as far south as San Francisco. 

The annual production of gold in 
Alaska during the last two years has been 
about .$22,000,000. Of that amount nearly 
$18,000,000 has, each year, come from the 
placers. Over $1,000,000 worth of cop- 
per was produced last year and over 
$100,000 worth of silver. In addition to 
the mineral resources, the fisheries are 
coming to be of great importance. Over 
$10,000,000 worth of salmon is canned 
each year. Fifteen thousand fur seals 
may, under contract with the government, 
be taken, and there is little doubt that the 
full number is usually secured. Many of 
the small Alaskan islands have been taken 
as fox-ranches, and from these ranches 
hundreds of blue, red and white fox skins 
are secured each year. 

In 1867 the United States purchased 
the district of Alaska from Russia for 
$7,200,000. The land thus purchased in- 
cludes 586,401 square miles, or 375,296,- 
640 acres. The purchase price amounted 
to about two cents an acre. 

It is difficult to appreciate the dimen- 




VEGETABLES AND CEREALS GROWN IN 
"THE FROZEN NORTH" 



sions of this land from figures or on a 
general map of North America, but if the 
district of Alaska is drawn on the same 
scale as a map of the United States, and 
superimposed on the latter, a more defi- 
nite conception of the dimensions may be 
secured. In the latitude of Los Angeles, 
the Alaskan possessions would stretch 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; the 
southernmost island in the Aleutian 
Chain would rest in part in Mexico, while 
the northern border of Alaska would 
reach to the Canadian boundary line. 
Thus placed, the territory of Alaska is 
seen to equal a large portion of the upper 
Mississippi Valley, while the island pos- 
sessions in southeastern Alaska and far 
to the westward cover considerable addi- 
tional territory. 

If the district of Alaska be shifted in 
longitude, but held to its appropriate 
position in latitude, and superimposed on 
northern Europe, it may be so placed as 
to cover a large portion of northwestern 
Russia, all of Finland and Lapland, most 
of Sweden and a portion of Norway. The 
southeastern panhandle would rest over 
the central portion of European Russia, 
while the Alaskan Peninsula and the 
islands to the westward would lie in part 
over Germany, Holland, England, and 
reach even to Ireland. From this trans- 
fer of Alaska, it may be noted that many 
of the islands to the westward are south 
of Edinburgh, some are as far south as 
London and Dublin; that the coastal 
province bordering the Gulf of Alaska is 
in about the same latitude as Christiania 
and Stockholm; that St. Petersburg and 
the dense population surrounding that 
metropolis are as far north as Valdez, 
and that the Yukon basin is in the same 
latitude as Finland and northern Sweden. 

The populations of those portions of 
Europe that correspond iti latitude and 
dimensions to the Alaskan district amount 
to several millions of people, while in 
Alaska there is to-day a population of but 
sixty thousand to seventy thousand. The 
climatic conditions in Alaska and north- 
western Europe are strikingly diff^erent, 
and it must not be inferred that Alaska 
can ever support so large a population 
as an equal territory in northwestern 
Europe. It may, however, be pointed out 
that much of the Alaskan territory in- 
habited now by only a few native tribes 




"SHOVELING IN" 

From one claim over $300,000 was taken in a single month. A single clean-up on August 17, 1907, after three days' 
sluicing, amounted to $40,000 



is as suitable for habitation as much of 
Lapland, Finland and the northern por- 
tion of the Scandinavian peninsula. 

The Pacific-coast province of Alaska is 
as suitable for habitation as much of Nor- 
way. Some Finlanders with their fam- 
ilies are now settled on the shores of Cook 
Inlet, and are undertaking agricultural 
work there. The United States Agricul- 



tural Bureau has established four sta- 
tions at which experiments have shown 
that common garden vegetables may be 
ripened and that an oats-hay suitable for 
feeding cattle during the winter season 
may be raised. Many of the white peo- 
ple cultivate small garden patches even 
as far north as the Arctic Circle, and thus 
secure fresh lettuce, radishes, turnips, 




SITKA AND THE ADJACENT ISLANDS 
These beautiful mountainous islands make the inland passage a rival of the fiords of Norway 



cabbages and potatoes. In the Yukon 
basin the gardens are commonly placed 
on south-facing slopes so that the rays 
from the sun may strike the garden land 
at a high angle. 

From the geographical standpoint, 
Alaska may be compared advantageously 
with the western portion of the United 
States and British Columbia. Bordering 
the Pacific are the magnificent Coast 
Ranges, with many peaks rising seven 
thousand and eight thousand feet, and a 
few to elevations from sixteen to eighteen 
thousand feet. This system of mountains 
is continued far to the westward and 



thence southwestward where it forms the 
backbone of the Alaskan Peninsula. The 
western termination of this mountain 
belt is in a chain of volcanic islands, the 
westernmost of which is nearer to Japan 
than San Francisco. In the Alaskan 
Range is Mount McKinley, twenty thou- 
sand three hundred feet, the highest 
mountain in North America. This great 
peak rises conspicuously from the plains 
to the northwestward in the valley of the 
Kuskokwim, and may be seen from the 
uppei portion of Cook Inlet or from out- 
look points on the mountains of the Kenai 
Peninsula. 




A FAMILY PARTY 
64 



ALASKA 



65 



The Scenery of Alaska 
In the southeastern portion of Alaska, 
the numerous fjords and sheltered chan- 
nels make possible the most picturesque 
of water routes in North America, if not 
in the world. From Seattle to Skagrvvay, 
a distance of over one thousand miles, the 
inland passage is guarded by great moun- 



mountains among which the vessel quietly 
moves. 

To the eastward are the Coast Ranges 
and from the basins among their sum- 
mits glaciers descend to or nearly to the 
tidal waters. Immediately bordering the 
channel there are numerous cirques or 
amphitheatral areas on the mountain 




LOADING SUPPLIES FOR MINING CAMPS IN THE INTERIOR OF ALASKA 



tainous islands. The channel is in moun- 
tain valleys through which the ocean 
M^aters now pass. At places the channel 
becomes very narrow and the waters shal- 
low. Such places were the divides or 
passes in that mountainous region before 
the land was lowered and the sea ad- 
vanced into it. In all this journey there 
are but a few hours when there is any 
possibility of the vessel rocking from the 
motion of the sea. The travelers are, 
therefore, comfortable and in good spir- 
its, usually on the hurricane deck or in 
favorable outlook points, viewing the 



slopes where glaciers formerly existed, 
and from which beautiful .cascades now 
descend over precipices from one hundred 
to five hundred feet in height. 

In the northern portion of the inland 
passage there are several glaciers that 
reach the tidal waters and that may be 
approached within a few hundred yards 
by the steamers. The ends of these gla- 
ciers present vertical cliffs of ice of beau- 
tiful deep-blue color and sometimes as 
much as two hundred feet high. As the 
glaciers advance, the ice is pushed out 
into the water, and huge masses break off 




RAILROADING UNDER DIFFICULTIES 
Cutting through fifteen feet of snow 



and drift away as icebergs. The break- 
ing of these "live-glaciers" is accom- 
panied by a thundering noise not unlike 
that from cannonading. 

The panorama in Glacier Bay includes 
in the background the peaks of the Fair- 
weather Range with Mount Fairweather 
reaching to nearly sixteen thousand feet, 
and on the flank of the range a great mer 
de glace from which flows the Grand 
Pacific, the Johns Hopkins, the Carroll, 
the Muir and the Davidson. Thirty miles 
to the northwestward are half a dozen 
other glaciers. The former glaciers of 
southeastern Alaska deepened and wid- 
ened the great canals, inlets and fjords, 
and thus greatly assisted in making pos- 
sible the inland passage and the present 
easy approach to the existing glaciers. 

But if one ventures beyond the south- 
eastern portion of Alaska through Icy 
Straits and into the open ocean, still 
greater scenic features are in store for 
him. There from the deck of the vessel 



we watched for two days the magnificent 
ranges which border the Alaskan Gulf 
from Icy Straits to Cape Hinchinbrook, 
The Fairweather Range, which extends 
northward from Icy Straits, is now seen 
from the west. This great mountain mass 
rises promptly from the sea-level, and 
from the deck of the vessel the entire 
height of nearly sixteen thousand feet is 
within view. 

Farther north, the St. Elias Range 
rises similarly from the ocean, but reaches 
a maximum elevation in Mount St. Elias 
of nearly eighteen thousand feet. No- 
where in the world can one see to such 
advantage such huge mountain masses. 
If one climbs to elevations of five thou- 
sand or six thousand feet among the 
mountains of our western states or of 
British Columbia, or even to similar ele- 
vations among the Alps, there remain but 
six thousand to eight thousand feet of 
mountains to be seen. 

In the basins near the crest line of 



ALASKA 



67 



Pairweather Range, the snows accnraii- 
late, glaciers form, and these glaciers de- 
scend nearly or quite to tidewaters. On 
the southern slopes of Mount St. Elias 
the valley glaciers descend, and at the 
base of the mountains blend into one 
great ice-sheet known as the ]\Ialespina 
. Glacier. This, the largest Piedmont gla- 
I cier in the Avorld, borders the coast for 
I about eighty miles. The ice-sheet at 
places reaches to the ocean and steep 
cliffs of ice border the water-front. At 
\ other places, forests clothe the glacier, 
and give it the appearance of land. 



above town, and the floods from this gla- 
cier endanger portions of the village each 
season. 

Still farther to the westward, the moun- 
tain chains of the coast continue to be 
within view from the vessel. The Chugach 
Range follows out the Kenai Peninsula 
and into Kodiak Island. On the west of 
Cook Inlet is the Alaskan Range, with 
its numerous volcanic peaks, many of 
which are yet active. 

The Yukon Basin 

The interior of Alaska presents a very 




KESIDENTIAL SECTION, VALDEZ 



To the westward from Cape Hinchin- 
brook, the coastwise journey leads one 
into Prince William Sound. Again we 
are in the midst of mountains where beau- 
tiful fjords make it possible to advance 
far inland. It is the southeastern Alas- 
kan type of country over again. The 
mountains bordering the great fjords rise 
to elevations of three thousand and four 
thousand feet, while in the distance the 
summits of the Chugach Range reach ele- 
vations of six thousand and eight thou- 
sand feet. From the catchment basins 
among these mountains, other glaciers 
descend to tidal waters. At the head of 
the Sound, after steaming up one of the 
most beautiful fjords in Alaska, we 
reached the little village of Valdez. This 
village is situated on a plain made of 
mat erial washed out from the glacier just 



different aspect from that of the coastal 
province. It is a plateau region which 
has been much dissected by running 
water. From elevated positions in this 
interior region, the hill-tops come to a 
conspicuously even level and represent 
the ancient plateau into which the great 
valleys of the Yukon, the Tanana, the 
Kuskokwim, the Koyukuk and the Porcu- 
pine have been cut. In the cutting of 
these great valleys, in the working over 
the material of these interior lands, the 
streams gathered and concentrated the 
gold w^hich has drawn so many thousands 
of people into Alaska. 

The famous Klondike region is rela- 
tively near the headwaters of the Yukon 
drainage system ; Eagle and Circle ad- 
join that river; Fairbanks is located in 
the basin of the Tanana River, and the 



68 



ALASKA 




SliOWINQ RELATIVE SIZE OF ALASKA AND THE 
UNITED STATES 

latest find in the Innoka region is near 
the headwaters of a tributary to the lower 
Yukon. Lesser finds of gold have been 
made in almost every valley associated 
with this interior country. 

Running in an east-west direction, and 
north of the Yukon River, are the Rocky 
^Mountains of Alaska. These ranges of 
mountains reach elevations from six thou- 
sand to eight thousand feet above sea- 
level, are snow-capped, and among them 
there are numerous small glaciers. North- 
ward from the Rocky Mountains an ex- 
tensive plain, covered by a thick moss or 
tundra growth, extends to the Arctic 
Ocean. 

The four great geographic provinces of 
Alaska, namely, (1) the mountainous 
province bordering the Pacific Coast, (2) 
the interior plateau of the Yukon basin, 
(3) the Rocky Mountain belt, and (4) the 
Arctic slope, correspond to the great 
geographic provinces of British Colum- 
bia and the western half of the United 
States. The Pacific Coast mountains are 
represented in the states by the moun- 
tains of Washington, Oregon and Cali- 
fornia; the Yukon plateau by the plat- 
eau of Utah and Nevada, and the Rocky 
]\Iountain belt of Alaska is continuous 
through British Columbia with the Rocky 
I\Ioun tains of Montana, AVyoming and 
Colorado. The Arctic slope is compar- 
able to the plain stretching eastward from 
the Rocky Mountains in British Colum- 
bia and in the western states. 

Climatic Conditions 

The great geographic provinces of 
Alaska define also the great climatic prov- 
inces. In the Pacific-coast province the 
climatic conditions are modified by the 



proximity of the great ocean and espe- 
cially by the ocean currents which reach 
the Gulf of Alaska from the more south- 
em waters of the Pacific. As the Japan 
current approaches the western border of 
North America, a portion turns south- 
ward and another portion turns north- 
ward and follows the coast line of 
Alaska. 

The southwest winds from the Pacific 
Ocean are forced to give up their mois- 
ture on the windward slopes of the moun- 
tains, and therefore this province receives 
a heavy precipitation. At Sitka the an- 
nual precipitation is about one hundred 
inches ; at Juneau about ninety-five inches ; 
on the slopes of the Fairweather and 
St. Elias Ranges the precipitation ap- 
proaches nearly to two hundred inches. 
At Nuchek, a point just north of Cape 
Hinchinbrook, a measured precipitation 
of one hundred and ninety inches has 
been recorded. This heavy rainfall and 
snowfall accounts for the luxuriant for- 
ests that clothe the lower ranges and ade- 
quately explains the presence of the gla- 
ciers in this portion of Alaska. 

In this rainy coastal belt, the number 
of sunshiny days per month averages 
from fourteen to sixteen, but throughout 
the summer months, from I\Iay to Septem- 
ber, the average number of such days is 
much higher. The extreme southwestern 
portion of this province, the Alaskan Pen- 
insula and the Aleutian Islands, receives 
loss rainfall than that to the east. In the 
Cook Inlet region, which is in part cut ofi 
from the sea breezes, the amount of pre- 
cipitation drops at places to fourteen 
inches per year. In this region the rain- 
fall comes as gentle showers and is not a 
serious interference to mining or agricul- 
tural Avork. 

The temperature at sea-level in this 
coastal province varies from about zero 
to eighty or ninety degrees. IMany por- 
tions of this region seldom have a mini- 
mum temperature much below zero Fahr- 
enheit. In southeastern Alaska the an- 
nual range of temperature runs from an 
average mininnim in January of two de- 
grees below zero to an average maximum 
in July of eighty-six degrees. 

The interior plateau province is a semi- 
arid country, for the winds having been 
forced to give up their moisture on the 
Pacific Coast slope descend into the inte- 



ALASKA 



69 



rior in a relatively dry condition. That 
portion of the interior bordering the Ber- 
ing Sea receives some moisture from that 
direction, but the winds on which it is 
borne usually distribute it before they 
have advanced far into the Yukon basin. 
Thus the rainfall grades from an annual 
fall of fifteen to twenty inches in the 
lower Yukon country to an annual fall of 
from ten to twelve inches at Eagle. This 
land is for the most part covered with 
grasses and shrubs. The only portions 
supporting trees are those immediately 
adjoining the great rivers. Thus narrow 
belts of forest border the Yukon, the 
Tanana and the Kuskokwim. 

The interior province suffers extreme 
changes in temperature, ranging from a 
recorded minimum of minus sixty degrees 
Fahrenheit to an authentic maximum of 
ninety-four degrees. The winter tem- 
perature averages from five to ten de- 
grees, while during the summer months 
the average temperature is between fifty 
and sixty degrees. During the dark win- 
tor months this interior region is covered 
with from two to three feet of snow, the 
rivers are frozen, and there is very little 
activity except in underground mining 
operations. 

During the summer most of the snow 
disappears, the rivers are open to naviga- 
tion, and prospectors and miners are put- 
ting in long days at hard work. The 
ground in the Yukon basin never thaws 
much more than eighteen inches below 
the surface. In all mining work it is 
necessary to thaw the gravel or to mine 
each day just the amount that the heat 
from the sun has loosened up. The ice in 
the Yukon River begins to break in May, 
and the river freezes early in November. 
During the summer months when the sun 
shines most of the tv/enty-four hours of 
each day, the vegetation becomes luxu- 
riant, and in the moist tundra lands bor- 
dering the valleys, wild flowers and mos- 
quitoes are in great profusion. The days 
are frequently uncomfortably warm, and 
traveling is often postponed until the 
night hours. 

The Rocky Mountain province, owing 
to its greater altitude, receives additional 
precipitation, and in that area the snow- 
falls are sufficient to give rise to some 
smaller glaciers. Very few recorded data 
are available regarding the temperature 



conditions in this province, but the region 
may be thought of as one of extreme cold, 
especially during the winter months. 

The Arctic slope receives so little pre- 
cipitation that it may be classed as a semi- 
desert. The annual precipitation there is 
less than ten inches, and at points where 
the record has been kept, less than eight 
inches have been noted. 

The temperature conditions in this ex- 
treme northern province have been some- 
what faithfully recorded at Point Bar- 
row. At that point, the extreme north- 
ernmost point of Alaska, the winter tem- 




Copyriglit by C. H. Graves 

AN ALASKAN INDIAN'S ABODE 

perature has been known to fall to fifty- 
five degrees below zero, while the summer 
maximum is sixty-five degrees. The length 
of the growing season, or the period from 
the last killing frost in the spring to the 
first killing frost in the fall varies from 
150 days on the Pacific Coast to about 
ninety days in the interior, and to an 
uncertain minimum farther north so short 
that no agricultural work is practicable. 

The Native People of Alaska 

In southeastern Alaska the Indians are 
grouped in small villages, among which 
Metlakatla, Kake, Kilisnoo and Sitka are 
the most populous. The natives are now 
largely engaged during the summer sea- 
son in work associated with the salmon 
canneries or the oil and guano factories. 
They still do some logging, getting out 
and forming great rafts which I know 
have sold from $500 to $800 each. This 
money is distributed among the men who 
have assisted in the work, and the distri- 




THE RAILWAY PIERS AT VALDEZ 



biition results in a general good time 
about the village and a very considerable 
income to the little storekeeper who has 
located in or near the village. During the 
winter they still do some hunting, though 
the income received from work associated 
with the white man's industries has made 
them less dependent upon those primitive 
occupations. 

In the Cook Inlet region there are small 
Indian villages at Seldovia, Kenai and 
Tyonok. These natives are somewhat in- 
termingled through marriage with the 
Russians who settled in this district over 
a century ago. They are also somewhat 
related to the natives living in the islands 
far to the westward, and it is not uncom- 
mon to find among them a distinctly 
Japanese type. They are a simple, friendly 
people, who become very intimate with 
the whites who are more than tourists in 
the country. They assist in the shipping 
and mining work of the inlet. They are 
an industrious people and when not en- 
gaged by white men may usually be seen 
at work fishing, gathering wood, prepar- 
ing for or returning from some hunting 
expedition. In this district the bear and 
moose are abundant. 

Throughout the interior of Alaska, 
away from the coastal provinces, the 
Indians have their headquarters or vil- 



lages near the main rivers. They use those 
highways for travel, just as the white 
man has come to do. Throughout the 
summer season, they, as well as many of 
the white people, are busily engaged in 
catching and drying fish. They may leave 
their more permanent homes and scatter 
along the river banks, where they will live 
in tents or little temporary shacks, and 
with nets, traps or fish wheels in the river 
catch the salmon that are moving up- 
stream from early in June until late in 
August. During the time that the fish 
are being cleaned, the native dogs, which 
are more plentiful than the people, have 
their annual feast. The fish when cleaned 
are hung up to dry and then stored away 
in certain little shacks which they call 
"fish caches." The chief food supply, 
both for the dogs and for the people, dur- 
ing the winter season, is fish and when 
carefully dried it is not an unpalatable 
foodstuff. 

As we reached the lower portion of the 
Yukon valley we noticed that the natives 
had assumed some of the ways of the 
Eskimos who live in the coastal provinces 
bordering Bering Sea and the Arctic 
Ocean. AVe began to see the Eskimo 
parkie or outer garment. Moccasins would 
have the form or design of the Eskimo 
mucMuck, but still retained some of the 



70 



ALASKA 



71 



ornamental beadwork which is character- 
istic of the work of the Indians. The 
birch-bark canoes gradually disappeared 
and the skin kyalxs took their place. The 
lower Yukon country is a sort of transi- 
tional zone. 

By the time we had reached the mouth 
of the river, the true Eskimos were seen, 
camping about St. Michaels and across 
the bay at Nome. Those at Nome had 
come chiefly from Cape Prince of Wales, 
where their winter home is located and 
where they keep their herds of reindeer. 
During the summer season these people, 
who love to travel and love to visit, were 
in temporary homes, made either by the 
upturning of one of their large boats, or 
in tents, located in the outskirts of the 
city. Here they were busily engaged, the 
men at carving or polishing ivory, the 
women at making mucklucks, kamilinkas 
or rain-coats, and large mats or rugs. 
The mats or rugs are made of pieces of 
hair seal, cut so that with the different 
colored hair an artistic desi-jn is made. 



reindeer, and for each succeeding year 
two more head, until he has a nucleus of 
ten for his private herd. 

My season's w^ork, which had taken me 
through the interior and down the entire 
length of the Yukon Kiver, ended at 
Nome. We left that metropolis late in 
the fall when signs of winter were ap- 
pearing. The city is cosmopolitan in 
nature and a busy place throughout the 
year. During the summer the active 
mining is in progress both underground 
and at the surface. Outfits are continu- 
ally made ready and trainloads, wagon- 
loads or boatloads of provisions are leav- 
ing for the mining camps. 

During the winter, Nome is reported as 
equally busy, for underground mining is 
still in progress, and large quantities of 
supplies are being moved over the snows 
for the next season's work in the more 
distant camps. As winter approaches, the 
ice begins to form in Bering Sea, until it 
is impossible to approach the city by boat, 
a^xl with the freezing of the river all 




ESKIMO HAULING REINDEER MEAT TO NOME MARKET 



These people are great traders, and each 
afternoon and evening the men, women 
and children come through the streets of 
Nome, trying to dispose of some of the 
things they have made. 

AVhen fall approaches, the Eskimos 
leave for their winter home. There the 
men care for the reindeer and the young 
people attend the government schools. 
The schoolmaster is also the chief rein- 
deer herder, and the men of the tribe may, 
if they wish, become assistant herders. 
After four years of satisfactory service, 
the assistant herder receives four head of 



navigation into the interior ceases. The 
boats must all be drawn up out of the 
water and beyond reach of the ice, which 
during the break-up in the spring moves 
so vigorously that it would destroy any 
craft witliin reach. Through the inte- 
rior, the season is virtually closed by the 
middle of November. The white people 
as well as the natives are then chiefly 
concerned in keeping warm and sleeping 
as much as possible, awaiting with inter- 
est the arrival of each week's mail, and 
with still greater interest the appearance 
of the next season 's sun. 



THE EEPUBLIC OF PANAMA 
ANB THE CANAL ZONE 



BY 

JOHN F. WALLACE 



FOUMEKLY CUIEF ENGINEER PANAMA CANAL 




The Harbor of Pana?na 



IIILE it would hardly be 
proper to style the Re- 
public of Panama one 
of the colonial posses- 
sions of the United 
States, yet under the 
existing treaty with that 
republic, the United 
States has control and a qualified sov- 
ereignty over a strip of territory, known as 
the Canal Zone, some ten miles in width, 




being five miles on each side of and par- 
allel with the axis of the surveyed line of 
the Panama Canal, and practically forty- 
seven miles long from ocean to ocean. 
Two small reservations, embracing the 
nnmicipalities of Colon on the Caribbean 
side and Panama on the Pacific side, are 
excepted from this territory. 

The Constitution of the Republic of 
Panama went into force on February 23, 
1904. Executive authority is vested in the 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA A^^D THE CANAL ZONE 



73 



President, who is elected by popular vote 
for a term of four years and ineligible for 
the next succeeding term. The legislative 
branch of the government consists of a 
single body, the National Assembly, depu- 
ties being elected thereto for a term of 
four years in the proportion of one deputy 
for every ten thousand inhabitants or 
fraction over five thousand. This assem- 
bly meets every two years, but extra ses- 
sions can be called by the President. 

It should be borne in mind, however, 
that the government of the Canal Zone is 
entirely distinct from that of the Republic 
of Panama, the executive authority being 
vested in a governor, who is also a member 
of the Isthmian Canal Commission, ap- 
pointed by the President of the United 
States. The administration of justice in 
the Canal Zone is also vested in the United 
States Government. 

A technical interpretation of the orig- 
inal treaty with the Republic of Panama 
M'ould imply absolute sovereignty over this 
strip on the part of the United States. 
There has since been substituted, however, 
a provisional sovereignty by subsequent 
negotiations between the administrative 



officers of the two republics and it is at 
present understood — at least by the ad- 
ministrative officers of the Republic of 
Panama — that this sovereignty is re- 
stricted and qualified to purposes of con- 
struction, maintenance, operation and pro- 
tection of the Panama Canal. 

Logically, the municipalities of Colon 
and Panama should have been included in 
the Canal Zone. However, as these two 
cities contain the dominating element of 
the Panama population, it w^as necessary 
for the United States Government to ex- 
cept them from the concession in order 
that a political entity might be created 
and maintained, with which the United 
States Government could negotiate for the 
cession of the Canal Zone. Othei-wise, the 
creation of the Republic of Panama would 
have been merely a diplomatic fiction pro- 
viding for a forcible transfer from a weak 
republic to a strong republic, sustained 
solely by the doctrine that, in large gov- 
ernmental affairs at least, the end to be 
accomplished justified the means. 

The physical boundaries of the Republic 
of Panama embrace a luxuriant and fer- 
tile countn', approximately the size of the 




THE AMERICAN TOWN OF CULEBRA 




rum stereograph, copyright, 1907, Fiirlerwood & UndtTwood, Mew xoTa. 

CENTRAL PLAZA, PANAMA CITY, ON A SUNDAY MORNING 



State of Maine, and over four times that 
of New Jersey, embracing 32,280 square 
miles and containing a miscellaneous pop- 
ulation of three hundred and sixty-one 
thousand inhabitants : Whites of Spanish 
and other descents, Indians, Negroes and 
many of mixed nationalities, the dominat- 



ing and controlling factor being the com- 
mercial element residing in Panama and 
Colon. 

To the eastward a large part of the ter- 
ritory of the Republic of Panama is under 
the practical control of the San Bias 
Indians, one of the few tribes of natives 



74 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA AND THE CANAL ZONE 



75 



who have never permitted the heel of the 
conqueror to rest upon their necks, and 
who even to-day maintain their integrity 
and independence, having their own an- 
cient tribal government and acknowledg- 
ing allegiance to no one. This territory 



range flows the Chagres River and the 
various tributary streams. 

Panama is intersected by numerous riv- 
ers or small streams, more than a hundred 
flowing into the Caribbean Sea and twnee 
that number draining into the Pacific. 




MEAL-TIME AT AN ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION KITCHEN 

The groups in the right-hand corner are mostly Panama half-breeds. The typical canal laborers are in the back- 
ground on the extreme left The force exhibits much greater ethnic variety than it did a few years ago 
although the West Indian black is still the predominating ingredient in the melange 



has no stronger sanction for being em- 
braced in the Republic of Panama, or for- 
merly in the domain of the United States 
of Colombia, than its assumption by rulers 
who have never exercised real govern- 
mental functions in and control over the 
San Bias region. The actual control of 
the present Panama Republic is confined 
to the territory immediately adjoining the 
coast line and that lying between the 
Panama Railroad and Costa Rica, together 
with the indefinite area adjoining and 
lying eastward of the Canal Zone. 

The larger part of the Republic of Pan- 
ama is mountainous, the physical char- 
acteristics of the country consisting of a 
range of mountains which forms the back- 
bone of the Isthmus, through the lowest 
portion of which runs the present Panama 
Railroad and the located line of the canal. 
East and west of the railroad, along the 
axis of the Isthmus, the mountains rise on 
either side and the Isthmus widens. Along 
the northeastern slope of the principal 



The largest river in the republic is the 
Teuria, which rises in the southeastern 
part of the country and flows into Darien 
Harbor. There are numerous bays, which 
form remarkably safe and large harbors. 
One of the largest on the Caribbean coast 
is the Chiriqui Lagoon, w^hich, with Al- 
marante Bay, practically forms one body 
of water with an area of over three hun- 
dred square miles. The Gulf of Panama 
on the Pacific has a width of one hundred 
miles between Cape Garachine and Cape 
]\Ialo. Within this large body of water are 
the Bay of Parita, on the western side, and 
the Gulf of San ]\Iiguel, on the eastern 
side. Numerous islands skirt the coasts of 
Panama, both in the Pacific and Carib- 
bean, with a total aggregate area of more 
than six hundred square miles. 

The valleys are particularly fertile, and 
the mountain ranges in a less degree. The 
larger part of the country was originally 
covered with a dense tropical forest, com- 
posed of both hard and soft woods. A 




Ill, iA i,Ki;i;A (_ r r. Rio Grande Slide in foregrouii 




THE AMERICAN TOWN OF LA BOCA. SI 




Photos, Copyright, 1909, by the Pictorial News Co. 




icing nortli. Cucuracha Slide to the right aud cut sout 



of canal. Rio Grande and canal beyond 




ICON HILL 



78 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA AND THE CANAL ZONE 



large area of rolling land in the foot hills coffee, cocoanuts and other fruits and 

is partially bare of forest, and corresponds vegetables. The country also produces 

to our prairies, or, as they are called on many varieties and large quantities of 

the Isthmus, "savannas." They remind hard wood, such as rosewood, mahogany, 

one of the rolling lands of the. United cohololo, as well as many dye woods, all of 

States, except for the occasional palm which are procured with great difficulty, 




HOMES IN THE BANANA BELT 
The Chagrea River Valley, Panama 



trees and other distinctive forms of trop- 
ical vegetation. All tropical and semi- 
tropical products can be raised in this 
country, which is quite capable of sustain- 
ing a dense population. 

The republic contains over twenty mil- 
lion acres of land, of which about seventy- 
five thousand acres only are under cultiva- 
tion, Dractically forty thousand acres be- 
ing devoted to the cultivation of bananas 
and the balance of the acreage to cacao, 



owing to lack of roads through practically 
an impenetrable jungle. 

Contrary to the general impression, the 
climate is to some extent variable. The 
higher altitudes are more or less healthful. 
The Pacific slope has a moderate rainfall 
of approximately sixty inches per annum, 
gradually increasing across the Isthmus to 
one hundred and twenty, or one hundred 
and fifty inches per annum at Colon, 
on the Caribbean Sea. Outside the low 



THE KEPUBLiC OF PANAMA AKD THE CANAL ZONE 



79 



swamp lands near the coast and adjoining 
some of the streams, the Chagres River in 
particular, the climate is salnbrious as 
tropical climates go. Heretofore the only 
places scourged by malignant diseases 
have been Panama and Colon, on account 
of insanitary conditions and the fact that 
both these cities have been the gateways 
through which the tide of travel to and 
from the west coast of Central and South 
America has ebbed and flowed. AVhile 
the mean temperature of Panama is ap- 
proximately 80° F., and the humidity 
varies between 75 and 90 degrees, making 
the climate very enervating during the 
day, the nights are cool and refreshing. 

The principal cities of the republic are, 
of course, Panama and Colon, the former 
having a population of approximately 
thirty thousand and the latter six thou- 
sand inhabitants. The business of these 
towns is confined to tradespeople and 
small merchants, as outside of a few small 
soap, match and ice factories, the republic 
has little or no manufacturing interests. 

The present undeveloped state of the 
Republic of Panama is due primarily : 

First. Prior to American control the 



ports of entry of Panama and Colon were 
the hotbeds of disease. The sanitary 
measures enforced within the past three 
years under the administration of Colonel 
W. C. Gorgas, of the United States Army, 
have now made these cities as healthful 
places of residence as any other tropical 
region. Panama and Colon have both 
been supplied with water and sewage sys- 
tems and the streets have been paved. 

This cause, which seriously retarded the 
development of the country, has now been 
eliminated. 

Second. The unstability of the local 
government, revolution having occurred 
almost annually for fifty years immedi- 
ately preceding the formation of the Re- 
public of Panama on November 3, 1903, 
the date of her declaration of indepen- 
dence from the Republic of Colombia. 

On account of the present protective re- 
lationship between the Republic of Pan- 
ama and the United States, revolutions are 
now a very remote possibility. 

Third. The monopoly of transporta- 
tion facilities by the Panama Railroad, 
which it remains for the United States, 
through its ownership thereof, control of 




BOATS SELLING NATIVE PRODUCTS AT THE WATER FRONT, PANAMA 




From stereograph, copyright, 1907, H. C. White Co. 

FRONT STREET, COLON, ONCE A RIVER OP MUD, NOW PAVED AND MADE SANITARY 



the Canal Zone and protective relation- 
ship to the Panama Republic, to change 
from a retardant to a stimulating factor. 

Prior to the eonstrnction of the Union 
and Central Pacific Railroads, the Isth- 
mian route was a link in the preferable 
line of connection between the Atlantic 
and Pacific seaboards of the United States, 
the alternate to the slow, expensive over- 
land route, operated by wagon train and 
stage coach. 

The incentive for the construction of the 
Panama Railroad in 1852, expediting 
transcontinental mails and traffic by the 
Isthmian route, was the basic cause of the 



original treaty between the then Province 
of New Granada, within the boundaries of 
which the route lay, and the United States 
Government. Under this treaty, the 
United States obtained unusual powers in 
connection with the Panama Railroad ; 
while the management, maintenance and 
operation remained in the hands of a pri- 
vate corporation, every safeguard was pro- 
vided for American control and protec- 
tion. 

This railroad was given the unqualified 
monopoly of all means of transportation 
from ocean to ocean, inside the limits of 
the Province of New Granada, now prac- 




THE ROAD TO LAS SABANAS, PANAMA 



ticall.y the Republic of Panama. The re- 
strictive policy of the management of this 
road for fifty years through the apparent 
necessity of charging exorbitant rates for 
the transportation of passengers and mer- 
chandise, operated to prevent local devel- 
opment, as well as to limit seriously the 
through commerce which the railroad was 
created to foster. 

The construction of a waterway connect- 
ing the two oceans and throwing this route 
open to the world on equal terms will un- 
doubtedly in years to come create a flow 
of commerce through its gateway that will 
greatly stimulate and develop the prosper- 
ity of the entire Republic of Panama. 
The inevitable destiny of this country will 
surely cause it to become one of the 



brightest stars among the nations of South 
America. 

The fact that Panama and Colon will be 
the last ports of call for the world's com- 
merce, moving in either direction for long 
ocean distances, will create the necessity 
for vast depots of shipping supplies for 
distribution at these points, and will 
afford the means, if made a free zone, for 
the interchange of the world's commodi- 
ties. This will necessitate a population 
many times that which now exists and un- 
doubtedly promote the development of the 
entire country. With governmental en- 
couragement, railway lines will be con- 
structed in the Chagres Valley and along 
the Pacific Coast line, ultimately forming a 
link in the future Pan- American Railway. 



81 



82 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA AND THE CANAL ZONE 



A further stimulus in this direction will 
be caused by the large number of active 
Americans attracted by the construction 
of the Panama Canal, not only as direct 
employees of the United States Govern- 
ment engaged on the work, but in connec- 
tion with the collateral and auxiliary trade 
relations necessitated thereby. Many of 
these people will find their future destiny 
as residents of the Panama Republic, and 
their predominating influence will no 
doubt result in the growth of a warm and 
lasting friendship between the inhabitants 
of the Republic of Panama and the United 
States. It will also tend to promote future 
profitable trade relations with all South 
American countries. 

The present treaty between the United 
States and the Republic of Panama pro- 
vides for a protectorate which practically 



gives the United States not only the power 
of intervening to repel invasion and re- 
press local disorders, but also guarantees 
that the United States will assume the 
i-esponsibility for the internal and foreign 
peace of the country. What the final out- 
come will be, and whether or not a closer 
relationship will eventually exist between 
the United States and the Republic of 
Panama depends largely upon the inclina- 
tion and desire of the people of that coun- 
try, which may result in annexation at 
some future time. 

It does not require a prophetic mind or 
great foresight to predict the day when 
the Republic of Panama will support a 
population of several million happy and 
contented people, profitably engaged in 
the development of its abundant natural 
resources. 




AN OFFICIAL TOUR OF INSPECIln\ 
President Taft and Colonel Goethals (with hat removed) are 



<'AN\L ZONE 

ear end of " The Taft Special." 




POETO RICO 
THE LAI^D OF PROBLEMS 

BY 

C. H. FORBES-LL\DSAY 

AUTHOR OF "AMEKICA'S INSULAK POSSESSIONS," "INDIA, I'AST AND PKESENT," ETC. 



;KITING of Porto Rico 
some years before 
American occupancy, I 
called it the "Ireland 
of Spain." At that 
time its political, social 
and industrial condi- 
tions bore no slight re- 
semblance to those of Great Britain's 
insular possession. It was somewhat 
similarly governed. It had its wealthy 




element in the population, consisting of 
landlords and merchants, but almost no 
middle class. Its peasantry were poor 
and ignorant tenants, wringing a bare 
subsistence from the soil. The parallel is 
capable of farther extension, but this 
brief comparison suffices for my purpose. 
To-day Porto Rico may aptly be termed 
a "land of problems," because every- 
thing in the island is in a formative or 
reformative stage and it is impossible to 



83 




IIAULINQ SUPPLIES FOR THE NEW RAILROAD 



tell what the ultimate results will be. A 
true account of Porto Rican conditions 
written when we acquired the country, or 
even as late as 1900, would apply in 
hardly any important respect to the con- 
ditions of to-day, and twelve months hence 
the present article will be inadequate to a 
description of the Porto Rico of 1909, so 



rapidly and extensively are changes tak- 
ing place. 

Porto Rico was the most prosperous of 
all Spain's colonies during the closing 
years of the nineteenth century, and its 
commerce, benefiting by the disturbed 
state of Cuba, reached the height of its 
prosperity just before the Spanish- 




THE MILITARY ROAD FROM SAN JUAN TO PONCE 
The Spaniards were splendid road-builders, but their efforts seldom extended beyood government needs 

84 



PORTO EICO 



85 



American War. Then came a period of 
depression, due to the disorganization of 
trade and the closing of old-time markets, 
which reached its climax in the year fol- 
lowing the disastrous hurricane of 1899. 
Out of the depths of commercial con- 
fusion and industrial collapse Porto Rico 



the poor people are the chief beneficiaries. 
Already the evils of their hard lives are 
considerably mitigated, their ignorance is 
alleviated, and a hopeful prospect is held 
out to them. 

The Porto Ricans have a marvel ously 
rich possession in their country. It is a 




TIIH MARKET PLACE AT PONCE 



has been raised in the course of a few 
years to a condition of welfare and prom- 
ise such as she never knew before, nor 
ever dreamed of. 

There is a vital difference between her 
prosperity under Spain and her prosper- 
ity under the United States. The former 
condition mainly benefited the small mon- 
eyed class and improved the condition of 
the masses only to the extent of removing 
them in a degree from their chronic state 
of semi-starvation. On the other hand, in 
the charged conditions brought about by 
the administration of the United States, 



land of innumerable hills and valleys, 
watered by a thousand streams. The sur- 
face is clad in perennial verdure, and the 
elevations covered with vegetation even 
to their rounded summits. This little 
island spot can boast a greater variety of 
landscape scenery than any similar area 
in the world. There are no wastes, no 
swamps, no rocky stretches. 

The entire face of the land is covered 
wath a soil so rich and deep that some of 
it has been continuously worked without 
fertilization for centuries. Every rood of 
it is cultivable. The alluvial bottom- 



86 



PORTO RICO 



lands along the rivers and the coastal 
plains yield sugar abundantly in response 
to the simplest methods. The upland val- 
leys and the foothills produce tobacco of 
the finest quality. The slopes of the hills 
support groves of oranges, fields of 
bananas and plantations of coffee. Even 
the sandy belt along the littoral affords 



one — the military road from San Juan 
to Ponce, with a branch to Guayama. 
Aside from this, most of the roads were 
indescribably bad and at seasons im- 
passable for vehicles. The first franchise 
for railroad construction was granted in 
1888 to a French company, which laid 
several disconnected sections of narrow- 




LARES, FORMERLY A BUSY CENTER OP THE COFFEE INDUSTRY 

Under the Spaniards coffee was Porto Rico's principal product, but its export valuation has dropped from $13,333,5 

in 1897 to $4,693,004 in the last fiscal year 



the most favorable ground for the growth 
of the cocoanut palm. 

Passing rich as it is, this country has 
never been developed. Spain did little 
toward the exploitation of its resources 
and even prohibited the prosecution of 
some of its most promising industries. 
Cattle grazed over large areas of land 
that might have been set in cane or 
tobacco, because there was lack of capital 
for the cultivation of the former, and the 
exportation of the latter was restricted. 
Coffee was the mainstay of the island 
trade and it was mostly carried to the 
coast on pack animals over difftcult trails. 

There was but one highway of any con- 
siderable length and that was a splendid 



gauge track along the coast, aggregating 
about 130 miles in length. One town, 
Mayaguez, boasted a street tramway. It 
was equipped with square curtained cars 
that looked like medieval bedsteads on 
wheels, drawn by reluctant, raw-boned 
ponies. 

The population was, as a matter of 
course, in the same state of stagnation as 
the country. San Juan, "La Capital," 
as the Porto Ricans fondly call it, should 
by all the laws of hygiene have been a 
perpetual plague spot, for every estab^ 
lished condition made for disease. But 
some mysteriously providential agencies 
secured for it a tolerable degree of health- 
fulness. Into the eighty acres of the in- 




THE GOVERNOR'S PALACE AT SAN JUAN 




A RECEPTION ROOM IN THE PALACE 



tramural city twenty thousand souls 
icrowded, where not more than half the 
ispace could be devoted to habitations. The 
houses, solidly massed, side by side and 
back to back, were devoid of any but the 
-most primitive sanitary arrangements. 
In the upper story — few houses are more 
than two in height — lived the better 



class in ill-ventilated and poorly lighted 
rooms, for the Porto Rican shuns the 
trade wind which is probably the secret 
savior of his city. The lower quarters of 
the dwellings were veritable rabbit war- 
rens, partitioned off into a number of 
small rooms, opening upon the patio. 
Here the poor lived under infinitely worse 



87 



88 



PORTO RICO 




A STREET IN COAMO SPRINGS 



conditions than do the Italians of Soho, 
or the Chinese of Mott Street. The aver- 
age number of inhabitants to a house in 
San Juan was twelve, but there were 
many ground floors that harbored twice 
as many, in apartments that had no inlet 
for light or air, save the door, and no fur- 
niture but a few mats on which to lie, a 
small charcoal stove and a kettle. The 
cooking was done in the patio, which was 
also the drying-ground for clothes and 
the general lounging place. 

We have done much toward improving 
these fearful conditions, although the re- 
lief of the congestion — which is fifty per 
cent greater than in Havana — presents 
a formidable problem. The accumulated 
filth of centuries has been cleared out of 
the city, water supply and sewerage have 
been provided, and ordinary sanitary con- 
veniences installed. In time we shall 
either thin out the buildings or the in- 
habitants of San Jnan, intramuros. Many 
of the jmtio dwellers will be induced to 
move out to the suburbs and modern tene- 
ments will be built for others. 

The condition of the masses in the 




TOBACCO CULTURE UNDER CHEESE-CLOTH SCREENS 
Around Caguas, the center of the tobacco district, hundreds of acres are found under one cover 




!■ lom stereograph, copyright, by Underwood & Underwood, New York 

COLUMBUS SQUARE, SAN JUAN AND THE BAY 
Seen from San Cristobal Fortress 



country districts was better only in so far 
as they were slightly less crowded and 
confined, and consumption was not so 
rife among them. But they lived in the 
most miserable sliacks, their only furni- 
ture a few simple utensils, a hammock or 
two, and perhaps a mat. Tens of thou- 
sands never sat upon a chair, nor at a 



table, nor knew other bed than the bare 
floor. Three-fourths of Porto Rico's mil- 
lion never had covering to their feet, nor 
more than the scantiest clothing, while 
their children of both sexes went totally 
naked until seven or eight years of age. 
In attending to the victims of the hur- 
ricane of 1899, the medical officers were 



90 



PORTO RICO 



brought into close contact with a large 
number of the people. Then the startling 
discovery was made that three in every 
four of their patients were afflicted with 
tropical anemia, which is now attributed 
to the presence of a parasite in the blood. 
Thorough investigation showed that ninety 



cured. The striking results induced larger 
appropriations for the prosecution of the 
crusade, with the outcome that in the 
last three years upward of two hundred 
thousand victims have been relieved of 
the infection. There is no doubt that the 
disease will be completely stamped out in 




THE MARINA, SAN JUAN 
One of the chief docks of the harbor 



per cent of the adult laboring population 
was affected by the disease, which saps 
the energies and shortens the life of the 
sufferer. 

The insular authorities are engaged in 
no more important work than their fight 
against this terrible affliction, for the 
eradication of the "hook-worm" means 
the regeneration of the Porto Rican and 
the upgrowth of a sturdy population in 
the place of their listless and thin-blooded 
forbears. There has been constantly in- 
creasing successful treatment under the 
direction of a special commission. In 
1904, about five thousand persons were 



time, and with its passing we shall cease 
to have justification for characterizing 
the Porto Ricans as lazy and shiftless. 

Thirty cents for twelve hours' work 
was the highest wage the Porto Rican 
laborer could ever hope for and that was 
often payable in tin checks on the plant- 
er's store. Moreover, there were upward 
of ninety holidays in the year, not to men- 
tion periods of idleness occasioned by in- 
dustrial conditions. More than half the 
adult population, and a large proportion 
of these were whites, did not handle as 
much as $5 in the course of a year. 

It must be admitted that the people 



PORTO RICO 



91 



were happy and contented, despite the 
almost universal state of disease and pov- 
erty. Shortly after the transfer of the 
island I asked a number of peons what 
they would like most of all, with the un- 
derstanding that the range of the inquiry 
was limitless. In every case the wish was 
for something material, and the most am- 
bitious was for a set of furniture. I 
could not find any desire for education, 
perhaps because they knew practically 
nothing of it, and must confess to sur- 
prise at the quick response to the oppor- 
tunities we have put in the way of these 
extraordinarily illiterate people. 



with transportation facilities in promot- 
ing the welfare of an agricultural people. 
The physical peculiarities of Porto Rico 
will tend to confine its railroads to the 
coastal line designed to encircle the 
island, and short loops and branches of 
it. The lines of communication and 
transportation in the interior must al- 
ways be mainly cart roads. The cost of 
constructing these averages $10,000 a mile 
and their maintenance is proportionally 
expensive, but the commerce and indus- 
try generated by their existence would 
make them worth while at a quadrupled 
outlay. 




A) FORTIFICATIONS, SAN JUAN 



Spain turned over to us one public 
school building. Now the whole country 
is dotted with schoolhouses, so that one is 
within easy reach of every soul in the 
island. And the pupils, as a rule, show 
remarkable aptitude and inclination to 
learn. The census of 1910 will show that 
we have wiped out the reproach of super- 
lative illiteracy under which Porto Rico 
•has lain for generations. But education 
is a sorry adjunct to an empty stomach. 
^The combination breeds agitators and 
anarchists. Happily we are working quite 
as effectually to improve the material con- 
dition of the Porto Ricans. The steam- 
roller and the schoolmaster were brought 
'into play simultaneously and the good 
works of both are bearing early fruit. 
■ No other factor is comparably potent 



Spain left 171 miles of main highway 
in use. We have already added more 
than three hundred miles as part of a 
system which is planned to supply the 
needs of every part of the island. The 
treasurer of Porto Rico recently disposed 
of $1,000,000 of the island's bonds at a 
premium in New York. The entire pro- 
ceeds of this transaction will be devoted 
to road-building. 

An American company has succeeded 
the French corporation in the control of 
the railroad. The disjointed sections 
have been connected and there is now a 
continuous line from Carolina, through 
San Juan, Arecibo, Mayaguez, and other 
important towns, to Ponce. Several 
branches to interior points have also been 
constructed. American locomotives have 



92 



PORTO RICO 



replaced the toy engines which were inces- 
santly breaking down, and the permanent 
way and general equipment have been 
greatly improved. The line has only 
completed half the proposed circuit and 
it is far from being perfect in operation 
or fully adequate in service, but it marks 
a great advance in transportation facili- 
ties over the old conditions. 



mediately put under cuhivation. There 
has been a general enhancement of real 
estate values, and land that lacked buyers 
at .$10 and .1^15 an acre now sells for $50 
an acre. Following the increase in trans- 
portation facilities, marked improvements 
in plantations were made at many points, 
and it is noticeable that the narrow-tire, 
two-wheeled ox-cart is gradually giving 




A NATIVE TUATCHED UUT 



San Juan and Ponce both have modern 
electric street railway systems, the latter 
extending out two miles to La Playa, the 
port town. An electric line is in course 
of construction to run from the capital 
over the route of the military road to 
Aibonito. 

Those who are thoroughly familiar with 
the island and its resources express the 
opinion that it will easily support a popu- 
lation of two millions when the road sys- 
tem is completed. As fast as the high- 
ways are opened to traffic, the lands ad- 
joining rise greatly in value and are im- 



plaee to the American wagon. 

With the expansion of agricultural in- 
dustries, in which nearly all the people 
are interested, wages have more than 
doubled and the masses have adopted a 
higher standard of living. In 1906, Porto 
Rico took from us three hundred thou- 
sand pairs of shoes and this represented 
a great advance in consumption. In 
lUUTthe shipments included just twice as 
many pairs and the general quality was 
better. The imports of the last few years 
show enormous increases in foodstuffs, 
clothing, tools and furniture, much the 



PORTO RICO 



93 



greater part being in response to the de- 
mand of the peasant ehiss. 

The most remarkable changes have 
taken place in the industrial economy of 
the island during the past few years. In 
the final period of Spanish rule coffee 
was by far the principal product of Porto 
Rico. Nearly half of the entire area un- 
der cultivation was devoted to it and in 
tlie exports it represented a value more 
than twice as great as that of all the other 
shipments combined. Of the eight hun- 
dred thousand peons, one-third, at least, 
wore dependent, directly or indirectly, 
upon the coffee industry. 

Upon annexation to the United States 
tlio protected markets of Spain and Cuba 
were closed to the Porto Rican planter 
;md the utmost endeavors have failed to 
secure a sale for his product in the United 
States. The insular coffee is better than 
the Brazilian bean and fully equal to the 
Costa Rican ''Mocha and Java," which 
constitute the bulk of our supply. But 
Americans have almost as poor taste in 
the matter of coffee as they have in that 
of tea, and the only hope for the island 
industry would appear to lie in such in- 
tensive cultivation as will greatly increase 
the yield to the acre and allow of the out- 
put being sold in competition with the 
cheap, low-grade products of South 
America. The proposition to put a five- 
cent duty on foreign importations and so 
protect the Porto Rican berry at an an- 
nual expense of $50,000,000 to the Ameri- 
can consumer is not likely to be consid- 
ered by Congress. 

The problem of the resuscitation of the 
coffee industry is an intricate and a 
momentous one. It is safe to say that 
one-fourth of the population would be 
benefited by a revival of the old-time 
source of prosperity, and a large propor- 
tion of these are people whom it will be 
difficult to make prosperous in any other 
way. Coffee may be cultivated with com- 
paratively little outlay of capital and it 
is grown to advantage on the interior ele- 
vations, which are adapted to no other 
product. This will account for the fact 
that, despite the severe depression, the 
plantations have not been abandoned, as 
much as one hundred and eighty-five 
thousand acres still lying under the bush. 
The total value of the coft'ee exported in 
the last fiscal year was $4,693,004 as coin- 




A STKEET IN SAN J LAN 

pared with a valuation of $12,222,599 in 
1897. Planters are almost unanimous in 
the opinion that the salvation of the in- 
dustry depends upon securing the United 
States market, or in some form of protec- 
tion, but the investigators at the experi- 
ment station of IMayaguez are sanguine of 
finding a solution to the difficulty in im- 
proved methods of cultivation and prepa- 
ration for market. 

Fortunately, we ha^■e effected an offset 
to the coffee collapse in the expansion of 
the sugar and tobacco industries, with the 
prospect of a profitable fruit trade in the 
near future. American capital and meth- 
ods have worked wonders in these respects 
and the principal products of the island 
now enjoy an assured position. 

The sugar business is undergoing an 
entire reorganization on the most scien- 
tific and economical lines. Formerly 
sugar, as an article of Porto Rican ex- 
port, was far behind coffee. Now it has 
considerably passed the highest mark ever 
attained by the berry. Practically all the 
land adapted to the growth of the cane is 
under cultivation, but it is believed that 
the crop may be trebled under improved 
conditions. Porto Rico, like the Hawaiian 
Islands, has its wet and dry sides. The 
southern valleys, which emlirace a great 
part of the sugar belt, need irrigation, 
and the Un-ited States Reclamation Serv- 
ice is invest-i gating the subject with prom- 
ise of satisfactory results. 

Under Spain the tobacco crop of Porto 



94 



PORTO RICO 



Rico was hardly worth consideration. 
In 1907 the export of cigars alone ap- 
proximated $5,000,000 in value and there 
is every indication of a large expansion 
of the industry. The most approved 
methods of cultivation and manufacture 
are in practice. Around Caguas, which is 
the center of the tobacco district, one 
finds hundreds of acres under one cover 
in several instances. High-grade wrap- 
pers are thus grown in large quantities. 

A new but promising industry is that 
of fruit growing, which, as in Cuba, is 
mainly in the hands of Americans. There 
are now upward of six thousand acres in 
oranges and a considerable area devoted 
to pineapples and grapefruit. Oranges 
grow wild in the hill region and on the 
west and south coasts. They are very 
sweet and of fine flavor but require care- 
ful packing. This has prevented their 
exportation until our own people took the 
task in hand. At present about two hun- 
dred and fifty thousand boxes are shipped 
annually, but with improved cultivation 
and greater transportation facilities, both 
inland and ocean, the shipments will be 
very largely increased. Pineapple cul- 
ture has become quite extensive during 
the past two years. The plantations are 
chiefly on the north coast and in the 
Mayaguez district. In connection with 
these, several large canning factories have 
been established. The industry has proved 
very profitable to the planters. Many of 
them who paid $50 an acre for their land 



were able to show a profit of one hundred 
per cent on the investment the first year. 

Porto Rico is not at present, whatever 
it may be under greater development, a 
country for the small capitalist. He may 
go to Cuba and do very well, securing 
land at one-third the price that he would 
have to pay for it in Porto Rico. Nor can 
the mechanic or farmer be advised to emi- 
grate to this one of our insular posses- 
sions. The former could not live on the 
wages paid for skilled labor and the latter 
would find the venture unprofitable until 
after the interior is better supplied with 
roads, and markets are more extensively 
established. Ultimately Porto Rico may 
afford homes to a large number of our 
agricultural population. 

Many promising industries have not 
yet been incepted. The systematic culti- 
vation of the cocoanut palm for copra 
would undoubtedly prove profitable, and 
the necessary land can be had cheaply. 
Porto Rico only needs a line of fast and 
regular steamers to supply the United 
States with a large quantity of vegetables, 
and in a dozen different directions new 
industries may be expected to arise as the 
constantly improving economic and agri- 
cultural conditions warrant. 

Even allowing for the splendid natural 
resources of the island and its previous 
stagnation, we have made a splendid rec- 
ord in Porto Rico, and one that probably 
is unparalleled in the history of coloniza- 
tion. 







AN AVENUE OP PALMS 



CUBA 
THE LAl^D OF PEOMISE 



BY 



C. H. FORBES-LINDSAY 



HE first siglit of Ha- 
vana, viewed in all the 
glory of a Cuban day, 
makes the strongest ap- 
peal to your sense of 
color. The picture has 
a setting of clear-blue 
sky and ultramarine 
water. On your left, as you enter the 
pouchlike harbor, stands the grim, gray 




bulk of the Morro, tailing off into the for- 
tifications of La Cabana, that costly 
"white elephant" which never fired a 
shot in defense of the city. On the op- 
posite side, La Punta, with its fort and 
the open space of the Malecon, and then a 
mass of many-tinted masonry, out of 
which rises the conical tower of venerable 
La Fuerza, topped by its aboriginal 
maiden gazing out to sea. Almost every 



95 




AN EXAMPLE OP THE FINE ROADS IN CUBA 
During the past year mere than 200 kilometers of macadamized reads have been completed, and 500 additional are 

in process of construction 



conceivable hue is reflected from the walls 
of the buildino-s under their dark red tiles. 
As at Manila, the steamers, of which an 
average of ten a day enter the port, 
anchor off shore and transfer their car- 
goes by means of lighters. This unneces- 
sary expense should be done away with 
here, as it soon will be at the capital of 
the Philippines, but it seems that the 
lighterage interests have sufficient influ- 
ence to obstruct the construction of docks, 
although there is ample depth at many 
places along the city front for vessels 
of the greatest draft. Passengers are 
landed in tenders, or they may, if they 
wish for a novel experience, go ashore 
in guadafios, the cumbersome boats, with 
wagon-top shelters over the stern, that 
look singularly like the Calcutta dinghy. 



The first contact with the natives im- 
presses the stranger with the dignified 
courtesy that he will meet on every hand 
during his stay in the island. The cus- 
tom-house officer examines his baggage 
with the Chesterfieldian politeness that he 
will later find exhibited by the street-car 
conductor, the shopkeeper, and, in fact, 
all Cubans of whatever degree. The new 
arrival will also notice that there is no 
riotous hurrying, even about the busy 
landing places, and, if he is wise, he will 
conform to the habit of the people and 
refrain from fussing, for your Cuban can 
not be shaken in his imperturbability and 
resents any attempt to disturb it. 

The Havanese are the only city people 
in the island. The inhabitants of all the 
other centers are virtually countrymen. 



96 



CUBA 



97 



Their interests and their manner of living 
are rural. But even in this great city of 
three hundred thousand souls, with its 
enormous business, you will not find as 
inuch bustling evidence of industry as in 
;m American town of one-third the size. 
The Cuban is not a pushing business man 
,is a rule, though those who have spent 
years in the States furnish exceptions. 
The Spaniards, large numbers of whom 
have immigrated in recent years, are more 
successful. One sees many neglected fields 
in which native enterprise and moderate 
capital might be successfully employed 
and notes that the exploitation of this 
wonderful country is almost entirely at 
the hands of foreigners. 

The visitor to Havana at the present 
day, who has recollections of the place 
during the period of Spain's misrule, will 
be struck by the signs of Americanization 
on every hand. Immediate indications of 
this are found in the superlatively clean 
streets, the fine electric car system, the 
smart, if somewhat undersized, police, and 
the numerous names foreign to the coun- 
try displayed outside business places. 
But the influence which has been so po- 
tent in its effect upon the city has worked 
little change in the personal habits of its 
people. 

The Cuban is very prone to imitate. 
Indeed, he may be moved more readily by 
the suggestion of example than in any 
other way, but he has shown little in- 
clination to modify his personal habits in 
conformity with the up-to-date manner of 
doing things which has been brought to 
his notice. This conservatism is no doubt 
wise in some respects, but it perpetuates 
many conditions that are incompatible 
with the growth and advancement of his 
city. Perhaps the 11 o'clock breakfast 
and succeeding rest are beneficial institu- 
tions. As much can not, however, be said 
of the custom of selling goods in stores by 
dickering after the fashion of the Ori- 
ental bazaar, and the primitive practice 
of peddling provisions and other articles 
might be abandoned with advantage in 
favor of a modern system of supply and 
delivery. The visitor is amused to see 
the milkman, the fruit-seller, the poultry 
vendor, and even men selling such things 
as buttons and thread, leading their pan- 
nier-laden horses and asses to the best 
houses and carrying on their dealings 




CLIMBING A PALM-TREE BY MEANS OF 
A KOPE TACKLE 




THE HOME OF A CUBAN PLANTER 



CUBA 



with the residents through the window 
gratings. 

American influence has, however, 
brought about some important changes in 
Cuban customs and notably in the aboli- 
tion of the bull-ring and the cock-pit, 
which used to be the chief Sunday attrac- 



some cases vehicles may only traverse 
them in one direction, as the signs suhida 
and haja at their entrances indicate. The 
buildings in this section are packed close 
and the population crowded to an extent 
that is not exceeded in Whitechapel or 
the Quartier Latin. There is no city in 




A BAND CONCERT AT THK MALECON, HAVANA 
Morro Castle is seeu across the harbor 



tions of the populace. Not a few of the 
better class of Havanese desire the same 
fate for Jai Alai and would rejoice to see 
the Fronton closed forever. High and low 
wager immoderately on this game and 
many stories of ruined reputations and 
wrecked businesses are connected with it. 
Every race has its prevailing vice and its 
comparative freedom from others. The 
Cubans are incurable gamblers, but 
drunkenness is virtually unknown among 
them. Both sexes in Havana spend a 
great deal of time in the numerous open- 
air cafes, but they drink, for the most 
part, non-alcoholic, fruity beverages, of 
which there are an extensive variety 
peculiar to the country. 

The portion of Havana that lies about 
the harbor, the old town, was intramuros 
before the walls were razed, a sacrifice of 
the picturesque to the sanitary. The nar- 
now streets still remain, so narrow that in 



America of two hundred thousand inhab- 
itants that covers so small an area as does 
Havana. 

The Havana residence is a flat-roofed, 
heavy structure with barred windows, 
twelve or sixteen feet in height, and mas- 
sive doors. Its forbidding aspect is some- 
what alleviated by the fact that, except 
when the slatted shutters are closed to 
exclude the sun, the passer-by may have 
a free view of the occupants in the living 
rooms, or through the open doors, see 
them enjoying the air in the bowery of 
the patio. The interiors of the houses are 
bare, but this is a wise concession to 
hygiene made in all tropical countries. It 
is less easy to account for the custom of 
placing in the reception room two precise 
rows of chairs facing one another, to dis- 
turb the alignment of which is distinctly 
bad form. 

There are along the Prado many hand- 




O'REILLY STREET, HAVANA 
One of the principal shopping streets Note the American signs 



some houses of more attractive architec- 
ture, and in the suburbs, particularly in 
Vedado, stretching along the Gulf front, 
charming villas are found, with colon- 



naded facades and set in gardens of beau- 
tiful plants. The outlying districts are 
reached by the electric railroads and con- 
nected with the city by excellent high- 



100 



CUBA 



101 



ways which in several directions extend 
for many miles into the country. During 
the past twelve months, there have been 
completed in the island more than two 
hundred kilometers of macadamized 
roads, and five hundred additional are in 
I»rocess of construction. This work is an 



erected upon the spot where the religious 
ceremonies were performed when Velas- 
quez founded the city; the Palace, built 
by Tacon and occupied by the governors 
during the last century, the Cathedral, 
containing the disputed bones of Colum- 
bus; and several others that claim atten- 




A NKW AMEBICAN HOME 
The Americans are coming into Cuba in considerable numbers, taking up land for agricultural purposes 



important factor in the movement that is 
fast making Cuba the most popular of 
winter resorts for Americans, who may 
now find good use in the island for their 
touring motors. 

The holiday-maker who has but a few 
days at his disposal during our winter can 
pass them delightfully in Havana, per- 
haps taking the short railroad trip to the 
famous valley of the Yiunuri and the 
curious caves of Bellamar. The city is 
one of the most interesting and pictur- 
esque in the western hemisphere. The 
old town abounds in historic spots and 
quaint structures. Around the Plaza de 
Armas cluster a number of notable build- 
ings : Fuerza, the first of Havana 's forts, 
now used as a depository for its archives ; 
El Templete, the beautiful little chapel 



tion for the long-past events and old-time 
characters with which they are associ- 
ated. Contiguous too, is the shopping 
district, of which the principal streets are 
Obispo and O'Reilly, cramped thorough- 
fares that have been trodden by the feet 
of every generation of Havanese. Here 
the shop signs indicate the American in- 
vasion and also reveal the Cuban habit of 
conferring grandiloquent or sentimental 
names upon everything. You may buy a 
pair of gloves at "The Genial Dove," "the 
name of the place, however, having no 
reference to the black-whiskered proprie- 
tor. If you happen in shortly after 11 
o'clock you will find him at breakfast with 
his assistants in the middle of the store. 
The congestion of the city intramuros 
finds a palliative in the Malecon which is 



102 



CUBA 



to old Havana what Battery Park is to 
lower Manhattan, or the Luneta to Ma- 
nila. The American authorities found 
the Point a heap of disorderly rubbish, 
M^hich they cleaned up, leaving Punta 
Castle standing in the center of a large 
open space that has been parked and 



social life. The principal hotels, clubs, 
cafes and theaters stand around it, and it 
is the scene of a joyous gathering two or 
three times a week when concerts are 
given in the evening. The Cubans are 
very fond of social pleasures and Havana 
is one of the gayest capitals in Christen- 




THE OLD AND THE NEW 

A modern double-disk plow in use by progressive Cubans 



boulevarded. The sea-wall and the fine 
carriage road skirting it have been car- 
ried on for miles out Vedado-way, afford- 
ing a charming drive along the seashore. 
Traversing the center of the city, from 
La Punta to Colon Park, is the broad, 
handsome, tree-lined boulevard, called the 
Prado. This, Havana's fashionable prom- 
enade and drive, is crowded with car- 
riages and pedestrians on Sunday after- 
noon. It runs through Central Park 
which, but for the interposition of the 
huge Villanueva railroad station, might 
be extended on to Colon Park. Central 
Park would be more attractive if its 
trees were not trimmed with such pre- 
cision as to suggest that they have just 
been received from a German toy factory. 
This resort is the focal point of Havana's 



dom. Many persons attend one or other 
of the half dozen theaters every night in 
the season and a convenient practice pre- 
vails of selling tickets for single acts of 
the performance. 

Some of the statuary about the city, in 
the plazas and parks, is exceedingly beau- 
tiful and nearly all of it is very effectively 
placed, a point in which municipal au- 
thorities so frequently fail. The Cubans 
evince grateful remembrance of their 
benefactors. IMarti, the revolutionist, 
Albear, the engineer, Garcia, the patriot, 
Espada, the cleric, and others are hon- 
ored with splendid statues, but one looks 
in vain for a public memorial of the ser- 
vices of M^aring, Reed, and the several 
other American sanitarians who rid 
Havana of its greatest curse. 




RAISING TOBACCO UNDER COVER 

In shade-houses similar to iLuse the growing tobacco is protected from the sun and unfavorable 
climatic changes 



The general health of the citizens, de- 
spite the fearfully crowded state of the 
old town, is better than that of the inhab- 
itants of most of our large cities. A great 
many people still retain the impression 
that Cuba is an unhealthy country. Ex- 



cept in the swampy districts along the 
coast, the climate and conditions, espe- 
cially since we have improved the water 
supplies of the centers of population, are 
decidedly conducive to good health, on 
tlie part of Americans no less than of 






iZjn^K 



^^r"^^' 



bt" " 





THE BUSY HAVANA WUAKVKS 
103 




THE PRESIDENT'S PALACE, HAVANA 



natives. On the central uplands many pi 
our people are doing hard work, while 
enjoying unwonted freedom from illness. 
Few, if any, countries in the world can 
boast a better climate. 

With the possible exception of Java, 
there is nowhere in the world a similar 
area of such extreme fertility as Cuba. 
The island is covered with variegated ver- 
dure displayed in undulating prairie or 
virgin forest. Only about the southern 
coast of Oriente is the coimtry markedly 
broken and rugged, and here are deposits 
of copper, iron and other minerals that, 
in all likelihood, have hardly been tapped. 
But a small proportion of the land is as 
yet turned to practical account and there 
is no doubt that this territory, no larger 
than England, might, under favorable 
conditions of government and develop- 
ment, support a happy and prosperous 
population of twenty-five million souls. 

The charm of the scenery lies largely in 
the diversity of color. Here are vast roll- 
ing fields of dark-green tobacco; here 
miles of bright sugar cane, interspersed 
with patches of fresh-turned, rich red 
earth. The emerald tints of pasture 
grass relieve tlie burnt bronze of the pine- 
apple plantation and contrast with the 
deeper tones of the fruit orchards. The 
predominant feature of the landscape is 
the royal palm, Cuba's pride. Its stately, 



silver-gray boles, topped by graceful 
plumes, rise on every hand to a height of 
one hundred or more feet. Here they 
cluster in a grove with outstanding sen- 
tinels; there, run in orderly ranks along 
some road, or marking the boundaries of 
a great estate. The monarch of the Cuban 
plains affords but scanty shade ; that must 
be looked for from the ceiba and other 
spreading trees, of which there are many 
varieties. The native, however, finds 
numerous important uses for the palm. 
It furnishes the material for the construc- 
tion of the peasant's shack, and the awn- 
ing of his cart ; it roofs enormous tobacco 
barns and encases the bales of leaves. 

If the Cuban authorities are wise, they 
will conserve their forests — the greater 
part of whidi are public property — for 
they are the life of the numberless streams 
that water the prolific prairie sloping to 
the sea on either side of the island. Cuba 
has agricultural resources capable of com- 
fortably supporting a rural population of 
fifteen million and she can well afford ^to 
treat her timber conservatively. ^*'^^'^" 

AVith the recent extension of railroad 
facilities, tourists in general have begun 
to extend their travel beyond the neigh- 
borhood of Havana, and they are learning 
that the provinces offer even greater at- 
tractions than the capital. All the prin- 
cipal cities are picturesque and interest- 



104 



CUBA 



105 



ing, and each has distinctly individnal 
characteristics. The hotel accommoda- 
tions are seldom as good as they should be, 
but the traveler will not suffer actual dis- 
comfort anywhere. In every place one 
encounters Americans, with an occasional 
Spaniard, Canadian, or Britisher, who are 
spying out this land of promise and 
quietly picking up desirable tracts of it. 

The entire central ridge presents an 
exceptionally attractive field to the land 
prospector. The climate is salubrious, the 
soil passing rich and the transportation 
facilities good, with promise of further 
improvement in the near future. Our 
people have put many millions into 
Cuban real estate. Estimates as to the 
amount vary, but probably it is not far 
short of $75,000,000. Aboiit twenty thou- 
sand individuals are interested in these 
investments, which represent property 
varying in extent from a single cahaUcria 
to thousands of acres. The acre-price of 
large tracts is surprisingly low, but small 
blocks of the best lands in the island, ex- 
cept for the favored tobacco region, can 
be had for less than $10 an acre, cleared 
and contiguous to a railroad. 

There are many colonies of Americans 
in the country, generally engaged in the 
cultivation of fruit, which is a fast ex- 
panding industry. They are living un- 
der comfortable conditions and making 
money, with excellent prospects for the 



future as the country about them devel- 
ops. The life is an easy one and Cuba is 
one of the few places to which a man ad- 
vanced in years, and with but moderate 
capital, can emigrate with any chance of 
success. I have met several who came here 
when well toward sixty, and one or two 
who had passed that age. Some of these 
are performing as much physical labor as 
they would be capable of in the States, 
and here it is often sufficient to secure a 
comfortable livelihood. 

The anticipated revival of coffee culture 
will afford attractive opportunities for 
men of limited means and physical 
capacity, and so with viniculture. Spain, 
out of solicitude for her home industry, 
forbade the cultivation of grapes, but 
some that were "grown under a cassock" 
demonstrated that the fruit would thrive 
in Cuba. A large home market exists for 
light wines and a demand for them might 
readily be created in our eastern States. 

To the young man with brains and dis- 
cernment, Cuba offers a peculiarly prom- 
ising field. The country is in the infancy 
of its development and he who grows up 
with it can not fail of ample opportuni- 
ties for a successful business career in one 
of the great variety of industries which 
the next decade will see expanded or in- 
cepted. The instability of political con- 
ditions has been a deterrent to many who 
might otherwise have settled in Cuba, but 




AN INTERIOR VILLAGE 



106 



CUBA 




Copyright by Underwood »t Underwood 
A TOBACCO FIELD 

I base the foregoing statement on a con- 
viction that the United States' control 
over the island will be indefinitely con- 
tinued, if it is not permanently estab- 
lished within the next few years. 

It wonld be difficult to exaggerate the 
productiveness of the soil of Cuba. The 
peasant scratches it with his rude plow, 
consisting of a crooked limb from a tree, 
drawn by oxen, and gets bounteous crops 
without further trouble. Preparatory to 
the first planting of an extensive tract, 
the ground is burnt over and the ashes 
left upon it. When the earth has been 
well moistened by the rains, holes are 
punched in it with the jau, and into them 
is put sugar cane, banana shoots, corn 
seeds, or what not, and the harvest is 
awaited. A crop needs practically no at- 
tention while growing, and sugar requires 
to be set only once in seven years. 

One of the chief sources of the labor 
difficulty lies in the fact that between har- 
vests the planter needs but little help and 
is, therefore, obliged to pay higher wages 
for his temporary hands than the service 
would command if he could employ them 
by the year, or if there was any other in- 
dustry in the locality in which they might 
engage meanwhile. The laborer devotes 
his spare time to the cultivation of a 



patch of his own and thus becomes more 
or less independent of the employer. The 
Cuban peasant is naturally inclined to be 
independent and does not readily respond 
to the market demand for wage-earners. 
When he works for another, he prefers to 
do it on the contract basis. The result of 
all this is constant variation in wages and 
a general insufficiency of labor supply. 
The labor situation is, not excepting 
political conditions, the greatest obstruc- 
tion to the rapid advancement of the 
island. At present it is inadequate to 
tlie requirements of the already estab- 
lished industries and retards the further 
development of the vast agricultural re- 
sources of the country. Ultimately, this 
problem will be solved, no doubt, by immi- 
gration from southern Europe. 

There are no zones of specific produc- 
tion, as in most countries. The various 
crops may be grown in almost any part of 
the island. The best tobacco lands are in 
Pinar del Rio, but good leaf is raised at 
many other widely scattered points. 
Draw a line from Caibarien to Cienfuegos 
and another from INIatanzas to Batabaiio. 
At least two-thirds of the active sugar 
plantations lie within the boundaries in- 
dicated, but some of the largest are far 
away from this central district, as the 
Santa Lucia, near Gibara, and five mil- 
lion additional acres might easily be put 
under cane. So with the wide variety of 
fruits and vegetables that Cuba produces. 
They are cultivable all over the island and 
many of them grow wild. 

The most promising section, if one may 
make distinction where almost every sec- 
tion is abundantly rich, is the region that 
has lately been opened up by the Cuba 
Company's railroad, which runs along the 
backbone of the island from the city of 
Santa Clara to the middle of the province 
of Oriente. Already extensive improve- 
ments have taken place in this territory, 
which a few years ago was almost unin- 
habited. Riding over the line, one passes 
frequent clearings and great sugar planta- 
tions with their modern mills, in some 
cases affording employment to five or six 
thousand persons. It is the intention of 
the company to tap the rich valleys on 
either side of the road, with branch lines. 
An offshoot now connects with the new 
to-wTi of Antilla, situated at the fine har- 
bor of Nipe Bay. 



36 91 





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